Link to demo video (YouTube or Vimeo).
https://vimeo.com/927374732

Include a link to your public 8th Wall Featured Page
https://maximantinori.8thwall.app/sandbox/

Briefly describe your projects key features and tech stack used
This project aims to develop a “walkable documentary” that combines AR with compelling audio storytelling, hidden installations, and interactions with locals. “At Home in the Castro” is built on oral histories of Castro neighborhood recorded by Walking Cinema with Assistance from the GLBT Historical Society. These recordings were developed into a compelling audio walk that tells the story of the first openly gay merchant in the Castro and the neighborhood’s transformation from sleepy Irish-American enclave to the queer capital of the world. In this sample chapter from the tour we use a spherical image of what the neighborhood looked like in 1957. We carefully stitched together archival images from that year and developed a 270 degree wraparound overlay that allows key features of today’s Castro to bleed into the Irish neighborhood that once was. The audio carefully choreographs the audience’s experience of then and now, pointing out key features of the streetscape that laid the foundation for the neighborhood to transform into the gay homeland it is today. We also developed buttons to start and stop the AR while the audio continues to tell the story and guide the audience forward on the journey.

What was the inspiration for your project?
The project was inspired by a core curiosity about how immigrant and minority neighborhoods form. Who were the pioneers and the threats that made certain populations flock to specific neighborhoods? How has the neighborhood transformed over the years and how has it informed out local and national identities? We also wanted to explore how AR can fit into longform storytelling that feels both cinematic and connected to the audience’s surroundings. Rather than let AR be the focus, how might audio, human interactions, and hidden installations combine with AR to place the audience at the center of an immersive storytelling experience? What we have submitted is an early section of a longer experience that chronicles the arc of a neighborhood and of a man who helped it transform into what it is today. The overall tour contains 4 AR experiences, two installations, and numerous interactions with the built and human environment. Hope you enjoy it and more information is at www.walkingcinema.org.

What prize is your submission eligible for? (pick more than one if it applies)
Era Innovator Grand Prize, Historian's Choice, Cultural Heritage (Pride Month), Temporal-Geographic Explorer, Timeless Creativity