The Google homepage today showcases a two-minute 360° Visual Reality (VR) video titled Back to the Moon. The video follows an illusionist exploring the magic of stars and the oceans, chasing a Queen of hearts. The film begins with Georges Méliès setting up the camera against a black and white backdrop and the rest of the video shows the illusionist on a stage. As a tribute to his legacy in special effects, the character then moves through a sequence of scenes from under the ocean through a ball room and duel, and ends in a beautiful romance in outer space.
This doodle marks the 106th anniversary of Georges Méliès’ silent film À la conquête du pole (The Conquest of the Pole) released on this day in 1912. Georges Méliès, often known as the 'Father of Visual Effects' was a renowned French filmmaker, illusionist and pioneer of special effects and narrative film techniques during the early days of cinema. The video title Back to the Moon is a wordplay on one of his most famous works A Trip to the Moon (1902). His other famous silent films include The Impossible Voyage (1904), The Vanishing Lady (1896) and The Living Playing Cards (1905). For a filmmaker who has revolutionised special effects in early cinema, it is not surprising that Google would pay homage with a technology that is now doing the same to modern visual media—virtual reality.
In 1998, for the first time Google co-founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin created a stickman figure on the Google logo to celebrate Nevada’s Burning Man Festival. This temporary alteration to the logo which later came to be called as “Google Doodles” evolved into creative art work used to commemorate important events, days and personalities. In the 20 years since the first doodle, Google has showcased a wide range of creativity from stationary pictures to interactive games and now a virtual reality experience.
The VR project was a joint effort between Google Spotlight stories (the company’s VR video developer), Google Arts and Culture, and French film organisation Cinémathèque Française. The video can be watched with a VR experience using a VR gear such as the Google Cardboard or as a usual 360° video by panning through the screen using a mouse or touch screen.