Hi there! In this post I've shared some behind-the-scenes and a bit about the process of creating the Japanese Breakfast AR Experience for Adobe Aero. If you're here, you may have already seen the AR experience, but if you haven't, click here or use the QR code below to try it out! I had a wonderful time working on this project and am so grateful to everyone who helped make it possible. Here's how it all went down!
In 2021 my friend Ivin, who owns a 3D capture studio in Brooklyn, invited me over to see the space and take some test scans. I had already been 3D scanned for a different project, so instead reached out to Michelle Zauner to see if she would be interested.
Michelle and I had recently met in NYC playing an immersive live gameshow our friends made called Game of 1000 Boxes. The game claims to test players' teamwork, brainwork and pure cosmic luck. The stars must have aligned in our favor because our team absolutely crushed in a landslide victory that is still whispered about through the streets of Bushwick.
In honor of our triumphant win she agreed to meet up and get scanned. We ended up capturing 3 different poses.
I left the 3D capture studio inspired, but unsure of what to create with the final scans. I love collaborating with musicians, but I had never worked with this type of asset before and wanted to try something new.
It's also worth mentioning that aside from being a proud gameshow teammate, I am also a MASSIVE Japanese Breakfast fan (and basically everything else Michelle has ever written or recorded) so I wanted to create something that other fans like myself would enjoy experiencing.
Augmented Reality felt like it had the most creative potential. It would challenge me to work with tools I was less familiar with, but also allow me to create a more unique, immersive experience. I wanted to include elements inspired the album Jubilee, both as literal references (like the persimmon tree and the instrumental soundscape) but also in the warmth and joy that album makes me feel.
It's a record I have listened to countless times in the last year and this project felt like a love letter to those songs and all the people who love them as much as I do.
I ended up creating three animated vignettes that play over an instrumental version of Posing for Cars.
In the first, we find Michelle at the center of a large dissolving persimmon. She is standing on a rock surrounded by water. Smaller persimmons float around her, magically lifting out of the water in time with the song.
In the second vignette, Michelle stands aside a large tree with green leaves. Dragonflies rest on small sprigs of lavender and if you tap them, they rise and fly around the scene! The tree's limbs soon grow full of fruit, and the green leaves turn red before dropping and floating around the island.
The final vignette show's Michelle floating in midair, surrounded by the dancing leaves and persimmons.
I wanted the sequence to feel a bit like a magical music box, the narrative unfolding with the sound. I built a small diorama in my Los Angeles studio to place and record the AR experience, but also experimented with filming it in a park at sunset. The shots of her with the dancing leaves and the warm LA sky in the background are my absolute favorite. Those moments really felt like the "ah-ha" moment of finally seeing the virtual and the physical come together to create something really beautiful in-camera.
Note that you will attract attention when you seem totally engrossed in filming a section of empty ground or sky for long periods of time. A lot of people stopped me to ask what was so interesting, and were really surprised when they looked at my phone's screen. The device felt like a little portal to another world.
I hope this project inspires you to create something outside of your comfort zone, experiment with new tools, and reconsider the ways people can experience your work.
Japanese Breakfast AR Experience for Adobe Aero
Featuring Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast
Creative Direction by Sam Cannon
Scans captured by NYCAP3D
with 3D support from Mike DiCola and Scott Denton
Video by Zack Blomquist
Curated by Carrie Gotch
#AdobeAero
