Harmony Korine Shot a Short Film Entirely With Snap’s Spectacles (EXCLUSIVE)
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Director Harmony Korine donned a pair of Snap’s high-end Spectacles 3 camera-enabled glasses to make an experimental short film — transforming Miami into a psychedelic swirl of colors, music and characters.
It’s a proof-of-concept project: Snap enlisted the filmmaker to create the 10-minute short, called “Duck Duck,” to showcase the new Spectacles 3 hardware, which include dual HD cameras and the ability to apply augmented-reality effects to 3D scenes.
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Korine’s movies include “Kids,” “Spring Breakers” and most recently this year’s “Beach Bum” starring Matthew McConaughey. With “Duck Duck,” which may or may not have a conventional storyline, he created a hybrid reality using 3D-lens overlays and filters developed by Snap.
“Duck Duck” is set to premiere online Dec. 4. Snap and luxury brand Gucci are teaming up to show the short film at Miami Beach’s Art Basel show from Dec. 5-8 in a public exhibit at the Melin Building in Miami Design District.
Snap says “Duck Duck” is a “commissioned piece of original art.” While Gucci is a presenting partner, no Gucci branding or products are featured in the short.
What’s the business rationale for funding Korine’s “Duck Duck”?
Snap calls itself a “camera company” and wants to position the third generation of Spectacles — available in a limited release for $380 a pop in either “mineral” or “carbon” finishes — as an evolving R&D tool for creatives and influencers to explore the art of the possible with AR. Eventually, the thinking goes, that experimentation should lead to new kinds of features and content for Snapchatters to engage with.
The Spectacles 3 devices let wearers capture stereoscopic video and include a 3D viewer so you can rewatch what you shoot in VR. The specs also let users apply new 3D effects post-capture for sharing on Snapchat.
“Both Harmony Korine and Spectacles are helping push the boundaries of immersive storytelling,” said Steen Strand, director of hardware for Snap Inc. “With the ability to capture depth like your own two eyes, Spectacles 3 brings Harmony Korine’s unique vision for ‘Duck Duck’ to life, showing how this new technology can inform the future of creative storytelling.”
Meanwhile, Korine has an ongoing relationship with Gucci. That has included him shooting the brand’s pre-fall 2019 collection, the 2019 holiday “Gift Giving” campaign, and the Cruise 2020 campaign. Earlier this year, Gucci highlighted the director’s work at an exhibition during Milan Fashion Week comprising 10 screenings. Korine is repped by CAA.
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