Overview
Tales From Soda Island sends you on a journey through the musical ecosystem of Soda Island. You discover strange creatures, ancient rituals, and cosmic symphonies working together in harmony.
The series is an anthology of events that unfold on Soda Island. Each story is unique and follows its own theme, with a central narrative woven through the whole series. It was created entirely in VR using Quill by Smoothstep over three years. The seven episodes run over two hours in total and have 5 million+ views on the Meta Quest platform.
My role
I ran the project from pitch to release. That meant working with the director through every stage, from ideation, scriptwriting, storyboards, and animatics to rough cuts, alpha, and final delivery, and keeping executive producers, artists, animators, audio directors, and sound designers aligned along the way.
I managed the schedule, the task tracking, and all communication with Meta as funder and publisher, including contracts, milestones, and invoicing. I built and hired the team and handled budgeting, payroll, and legal review.
On the technical side, I owned spatial audio for every episode, provided IT support through production, and spent R&D time improving the Quill-to-engine pipeline and the shaders the series shipped on.
Episodes
Watch on Meta Quest
Watch the series on Meta Quest if you can. A flat video does not do it justice.
Recognition
- 80th Venice International Film Festival (2023), Immersive, The First Ingredient
- Mediterranean International Film Festival (2024), Best VR Works, The First Ingredient
- Webby Awards (2024), Nominee, Best Narrative Experience, Silence
- SIGGRAPH 2021, VR Theater, The Neon Jungle
Gallery
Thanks
This is one of the most significant projects I have had the honor of working on. I often call Soda Island a “virtual hug,” and I promise you will feel better after spending time in it. We had an exceptional team under the creative leadership of Simone Fougnier.
Thank you to Goro Fujita and Ryan Genji Thomas, who recognized our passion for Quill and gave us the opportunity to create content for their platform.