As virtual reality technology continues to become more prevalent, so does the practice of using VR to make short and feature films. Recently, Joel Benjamin (Assistant Professor, Film, Video, Animation and New Genres) made his first foray into VR filmmaking with his short “Max Q,” which has achieved global success.
The creation and success of “Max Q”
“Max Q” is a 3D animated short that can only be watched with a VR headset. The short follows a couple who work for a company that travels across solar systems to collect data, traveling on shuttles to go from planet to planet.
“The goal really was to do a roller coaster ride of a film,” said Benjamin. “I was curious to see what the experience of a VR film would be like.”
The project began as a class project while Benjamin was teaching at DePaul University, working alongside students to start the project during a 10-week course. From there, Benjamin worked alongside his team for another three years to complete the film.
Benjamin described the film as a six degrees of freedom film, in which viewers can look around and move their heads to experience the film in three dimensions. The film is meant to feel immersive not only through its VR viewing ability but through its storytelling, with the entire film being one long shot with no cuts.
“It really is immersive and the viewer really feels like they’re in that space,” said Benjamin. “The fact that I could build this world and design every aspect of it was really interesting to me.”
On the film festival circuit, “Max Q” screened at Shapeshift Fest in Sofia, Bulgaria, and the Sona Immersive Storytelling Festival in Pittsburgh, among other festivals. Benjamin attended the latter, where he joined the film’s screenwriter and co-producer for a presentation, “Animation in Immersive Narratives,” and accepted the Audience Choice Award.
Takeaways for the classroom
While these accomplishments and accolades are great honors, Benjamin expressed that his desire to make “Max Q” was fueled by his imagination and love of filmmaking, not the awards.
“I was going to make this no matter what happened with it, whether anyone saw it or not,” said Benjamin.
This sentiment is one that Benjamin brings back to the classroom, with his primary goal as an educator being to get his students excited about creating original films.
“I feel like one of my major tasks as a teacher is to get students excited about learning, and that’s different than being excited about getting recognition,” said Benjamin. “I want students to make work because they want to make it, not because they want to get followers.”
Benjamin acknowledged that this goal is one that Peck aligns with well, as PSOA encourages students to push the boundaries of what is expected in the mainstream.
“I feel like Peck is a really good balance of teaching students’ technique and commercial sensibilities, but not for the sake of it being commercial,” said Benjamin. “There’s a strong balance of experimental narrative and narrative work coming out of the film school and the animation degree. I really appreciate that balance.”
Story by Jason McCullum ’25