The End of our #LasFallasVR Mission

Blimey, I'm tired!

Katie and I are creating free 360 VR videos and we just ended a massive three week mission to capture the carnage of Carnaval in Cadiz and Las Fallas in Valencia. These two Spanish festivals are wild and not the safest place for a 360 camera!

We haven't released the videos from Carnaval yet, but we shared Las Fallas more or less as it happened. This festival is more captivating than Rio Carnaval in my opinion (I've been to both twice and love both!)

Using #LasFallasVR, we created 16 experiences over three weeks for anyone with a headset (headphones recommended as well) to immerse themselves in a REAL LIFE series of events that ended this week.

This is where I believe the strength of 360 video lies. I truly believe it offers viewers the opportunity to experience something new, or to get a peek into their past. Sometimes it's a nostalgic experience (like a wedding)… Other times it's an experience you never thought you'd have.

Las Fallas can now be added to the library of experiences on offer. You can feel like you are part of the festival, as our videos immerse you in the festival.

Get a quick taste of the festival, by starting with the experience from this week's closing ceremony. It involves burning 700 structures around the city in a series of escalating fires.

You can dance to the music and soak up the atmosphere of the opening ceremony!

We have a comedic documentary from last year (in English, Spanish, and Valenciano) that really immerses you in the festival! You can experience this three-week celebration in just 24 minutes.

You can observe our favourite structures (Fallas) from 2019 while listening to the constant firecrackers that are the soundtrack to the festival.

You can feel the pounding of the Mascleta, which is an INCREDIBLY LOUD firecracker display that occurs every day for 19 days and blows your ears off!

You can trip to Pink Floyd or Michael Jackson while watching a psychedelic light show.

I'm linking to our YouTube channel but our videos are also available on Facebook 360, VeeR, SamsungVR, Littlstar and Vimeo. We do this so as many people as possible can enjoy on our experiences!

Please subscribe to our YouTube channel, as we have very few followers on this platform and it's the only one that allows monetisation (man gotta eat and I ain't on a fruit ninja diet!)

As I said, it's been a lot of work producing his content for the VR community and we're grateful for all the love (especially this!)

From Friday, we're back to our travel VRlog with a series that culminates in a trip to another wild fire festival in western Spain.

Please let us know what you think about our 360 content (yes, it's mono…) We're desperate for feedback so we can improve and give people what they want.

TLDR: Experience the mad burning of intricate artwork at Las Fallas festival in 360 VR. Start here and please subscribe!

#LasFallasVR

It's been a while since we last blogged, but this is because we've been busy making 360 VR content. We have been travelling around Spain, and releasing a new VR experience EVERY FRIDAY. It takes a lot of work to keep this up but we're having a great time and getting lots of support, which we hope will keep growing. We've got over 3000 subscribers on SamsungVR now!

This post is all about Las Fallas - a festival which is dominating the city of Valencia this month. If you have to learn a bit about the history of the festival, you can read our previous blog post here OR you can watch some of the 360 VR content on any of our channels (VeeR, Facebook, YouTube, SamsungVR, Littlstar)

The festival is now well underway and the city is building up to the main five days, which start this Friday (15th March).

What is Las Fallas about?

Las Fallas is all about explosions, parties, and celebrating Valencian culture. We discuss a bit about the history and its recently awarded status as a UNESCO World Heritage Event in this 360 piece.

We bloody love the craziness and carnival atmosphere that consumes the minds and lives of everyone in the city…

Which is why we created #LasFallasVR to share the festival virtually with anyone interested, wherever they are in the world.

#LasFallasVR

Feel the pounding and outrageous noise of the Mascleta - explosions that occur every day at 2pm for nearly three weeks. They have even started doing a midnight Mascleta this year!

Immerse yourself in the awesome fireworks from unusually close vantage points, without the risk of being injured.

Be dazzled by psychedelic light shows set to music by Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson!

Explore the monumental structures called Fallas in our documentary, Las Fallas 360 (English, Spanish, Valenciano) or wait for the release of our new experience on 22nd March, which will capture the spectacle of 2019's creations.

We're creating these experiences to experiment in VR and show the potential that 360 filming of live events has.

So strap on a headset and enjoy Las Fallas with us!

Photo from: www.valenciabonita.es/2019/03/06/falla-en-realidad-virtual/

Las Fallas 360 in 3 Languages!

Today we are thrilled to be releasing our Las Fallas 360 Virtual Reality documentary in TWO MORE languages!

Available TODAY in Spanish and Valenciano, as well as English.

Now even more people can feel the passion of this unique and amazing cultural celebration!

We'd like to say a special thank you to Ana Mayordomo for her help translating the script and Aitane Bueno Sanz for the giving us her talent and her voice for the Spanish and Valenciano audio.

Now, put your headset on and enjoy!

English
https://youtu.be/JvxWTDYx5_E
http://veer.tv/videos/221711
https://samsungvr.com/view/14_Cp4mLVfd
https://littlstar.com/videos/cc24ad77

Español
https://youtu.be/FhK_9D0dvrE
http://veer.tv/videos/265855
https://samsungvr.com/view/yVH8CjudbmN
https://littlstar.com/videos/8058b010

Valencià
https://youtu.be/pBldKIImAdk
http://veer.tv/videos/265871
https://samsungvr.com/view/K4wHOzVNqsv
https://littlstar.com/videos/3e3eefa6


Please like and share with like-minded VR explorers.

¡Fallas Part II: The Sequel!

In the last blog we introduced Fallas and the craziness of this festival and its firecrackers. One odd thing about fireworks is that in Rio we always thought fireworks were going off when we heard loud bangs. We later realised that they were gunshots. Now in Valencia, my initial reaction thinks they are gunshots, but I have to retune my mind to recognise them as fireworks. The reversal of our #RioLife.

In this post we will be exploring the many other elements of this festival, which is about so much more than fireworks!

The origins of the festival
The festival originally started as a way to celebrate the spring equinox. Carpenters used wooden planks to hold candles during the winter, so that they could see better at night. With the coming of spring, these carpenters no longer needed the planks so they burnt them. People also saw this as an opportunity to burn unwanted wooden items from their houses, such as broken chairs etc. As Christianity took hold, the festival became associated with Saint Joseph - the Patron Saint of Carpenters - although there is no actual religious connotation to the festival itself. Fallas continued to evolve into what we have today, which as mentioned before, is utter madness.

The fallas
To pay homage to the origins of the festival, hundreds of models made of wood, paper, and polystyrene, are made throughout the city. They are designed and built by the different neighbourhood communities (approx. 400) and often designed based on a theme, 2018's theme being balance. They can also be pretty political, and we saw so many that included caricatures of Trump, Kim Jong Un and Putin, and one that was making some kind of statement about Brexit (although we don't know what it said because it was written in Valencian!) 

Every couple of streets belongs to a different community group and they all donate throughout the year to build these structures. They take this all very seriously, as each year there is a competition to find the best ones. There are many different categories but there are about seven or eight that compete for the top prize each year, and these are truly spectacular, standing tens of metres tall with hundreds of different elements making up the scene.

During the festival, many streets close and food stalls and beer halls spring up everywhere. Beyond the gunpowder smell, there is one of beer, chocolate and sweat from all the dancing. The atmosphere is intoxicating, and you can't help but feel something special in the air.

This was Katie's favourite falla

La Ofrenda
Translated as the offering, this is the only religious element of the festival. Men and women from the different communities wear traditional clothes and march towards the centre of town, playing live music. They make an offering to the huge statue of Jesus' mum by adding flowers to decorate her dress. This lasts for a few days, with as many as 10,000 women contributing the bouquets. It's a magnificent spectical, as the dresses are beautiful and many of the people involved are moved to tears by the occasion.

La Ofrenda - thousands of bouquets of flowers were added to the structure.

Light shows
Another element of the festival are the magnificent light displays, which are set up in several streets around the city and which flash in time with music. These trippy displays are phenomenal and captivate a part of my brain in an addictive way. I went to them all, multiple times, and captured them in 360. I have a project in mind that I'll get round to in the latter part of this year so stay tuned!

But none of what we have already mentioned comes even close to the craziness of the final night of the festival...



 
La Crema
At midnight on this final night, all across the city, they BURN DOWN ALL THE FALLAS!

That's over 300 giant statues in a city of less than a million people, which all go up in flames. They call it La Crema - the cremation! Music, fireworks, screams, fire, and a hell of a lot of air pollution flood the city and you are overcome. It is nothing short of mental. We were caught up in a scary one that involved a mass evacuation as the wind turned, blowing thick black smoke full of burning ash into the crowd. Melted plastic has now permanently decorated my bag but luckily neither of our faces or eyes. Additional PPE will be required for next year!!

Before...

...And after.

Final Thoughts
The whole festival is more than a little strange, as the city grinds to a halt during these days and is descended upon by tourists. One thing I find shocking is how unknown this festival is in Britain. It is nowhere near as famous as it should be, considering the scale and beauty of all the displays.

The food, dancing, gigantic models, FIRE, and culture on display is something to behold and no wonder it is a UNESCO heritage event. It's the scale of the event that is difficult to get across in a blog. A carnival, manic atmosphere descends on the city and usual norms go out the window. It's The Purge of loud noises and fireworks. It truly is one of the most phenomenal festivals I have ever seen.

Fallas is a truly unique festival. Words, 360 videos, smileys, and memes cannot do it justice. This is up there with any carnival in the world. I highly recommend planning to come in 2019 because it really is that good.

I compared it to Rio Carnaval in the last post but it's an apt comparison. I went to the one in Rio two years running and was amazed at the energy in the city. But I think the bizarreness of Fallas actually outdoes Carnaval's free love, more party-ish atmosphere.

If you're single, go to Rio and have a lot of fun. If you're not, come to Fallas, eat sweet things, and be blown away by the craziness.

This shows one mid-construction. We saw this one burn, and it was oddly moving.

Game of Thrones!

La Ofrenda was beautiful and wasn't set on fire!

One of the many street parties happening throughout the week

There were paella cook-offs in the street, although we were warned this was more about having fun
and drinking than actually making something that tasted nice!

The aforementioned light displays