Celebrate Women’s History Month with ‘Reimagined Volume I: Nyssa,’ Out Now on Meta Quest TV
Today marks the debut of Reimagined—an animated VR series showcasing lesser-known fairy tales, fables, myths, and folklore. Fitting for Women’s History Month, the series is written, directed, and produced by women. Reimagined Volume I: Nyssa is available now for free on Meta Quest TV for the Meta Quest Platform.
Hand drawn and animated in VR using Quill by Smoothstep and inspired by the Brothers Grimm folktale “The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was,” it follows a precocious and mischievous young witch who, after losing her best friend, Broom, is guided by her familiar spirit through the depths of the Dark Migration where she must learn about fear and how to harness it in order to protect her village from the wrath of the evil Teemencaag.
We sat down with Reimagined Co-Creators Julie Cavaliere and Michaela Ternasky-Holland to learn more about their project and goal to reimagine stories from all over the world.
Julie Cavaliere: The Reimagined series is actually my first experience working in VR. I had quite the crash course when I decided to write and direct this piece! My background is as a creator and producer in traditional media, but when I was at the Tribeca Film Festival a few years ago, I had some free time and wandered into their immersive section. I was blown away by what I saw. I had the idea of Nyssa brewing already, and I knew this was the perfect medium in which to tell her story. I was inspired to combine what I knew about film and theater and apply it to this medium to hopefully immerse the audience in the same way as when you were young and transported by the stories you were told.
Michaela Ternasky-Holland: I dropped out of college for nine months and performed as a dancer on Disney Cruise Line. It was there that I realized the power of immersive and interactive storytelling. Blending this experience with my studies in journalism and film, I began creating my own VR documentaries in 2016, which is how I was hired by TIME to support their LIFE VR initiative. Since then, I have created, directed, produced, and edited over 10 XR non-fiction/social impact-focused projects.
JC: After visiting a witch museum in Europe, I learned about how at the age of 10, society felt the need to control young girls before they came into their power—before they became “dangerous.” I did a deep dive into fear conditioning and female self-actualization shortly after and coincidentally went thumbing through an old book of folktales and read a story about a boy who is sent out into the world to learn fear. That’s when I felt inspired to reinvent the story and how the idea of Volume I: Nyssa was born.
JC: I wanted the world to feel a bit disjointed and the witches to feel deconstructed—we’re not in Kansas anymore. It was important for me to lean into what Quill could do and this painterly effect it had. I’m a self-taught art history nerd and loved the idea of juxtaposing the style and meaning of early impressionism against expressionism. I thought that these two art styles could represent not good vs. evil, but rather the known vs. unknown. Eventually, the styles slowly merge so that a new world exists with dreamlike possibilities but also with shadows, dimension, and expressionistic qualities. It’s more complete and hopefully more interesting.
JC: We are definitely mixing things up. Reimagined is an anthology series, with each volume reenvisioning a different folktale, myth, or fable from around the world. In order to do that justice, we have to let the art style develop from the story authentically. Right now, the major thing they have in common is their use of Quill, but I think people are going to be excited to see just how differently the Quill platform is utilized in each volume. Maybe one day we’ll do a crossover piece that blends all our different universes!
MTH: Basically we’re dealing with similar ingredients but wildly different recipes. Because it’s an anthology series, we’re working with different stories and Quill artists for each volume, so the visual styles, tone, and pacing of each volume is going to be wildly different! It’s an incredible way to also showcase the open creativity that artists can express on Quill by Smoothstep. But keep an eye out for hidden Easter eggs or winks that link the volumes together. Internally, we like to call it the Reimagined Cinematic Universe.
JC: When the pandemic hit and everything shut down, Michaela and I switched gears and put full focus on getting this series off the ground. A concept artist we worked with suggested that we check out Tales from Soda Island and see what the group at Studio Syro were doing. I loved the hand-painted quality it had and felt that the story of Nyssa could fit really well into that aesthetic. Then we reached out to the team at Syro and sought the collaboration of Meta Quest and—once in a while, things fall into place!
MTH: Originally, I had been considering the traditional animation/game engine production pipeline for creating Volume I: Nyssa. But one of my good friends and this project’s original mentor, René Pinnell, recommended that I think about VR-native tools to create and build Volume I: Nyssa.
I had worked with Google’s Tilt Brush and Quill in previous projects but only to portray abstract moments or scenes. I hadn’t considered creating a robust experience using one of these platforms, as I was only familiar with the drawing style of Dear Angelica at that point.
So I reached out to my go-to Quill/Tilt Brush artist and previous collaborator Micah Miner. I asked him to do some high-level concept models and animations to help Julie and myself understand the capabilities of these VR animation platforms. He designed a very early version of the scene where the protagonist Nyssa faces the monster Teemencaag. After seeing the capabilities of Quill in 2019, Julie and I felt it was the best direction for Volume I: Nyssa.
JC: How many times can you sit through Cinderella? Even if done well, there’s a limit, I think. The world is full of stories—how lucky are we to be in a position to help bring some of those to light in a new and exciting medium?!
MTH: The work I do in XR is mainly focused on social impact. Social impact doesn’t always equate to non-fiction. When Reimagined began to unfold, I rallied behind the idea of showcasing lesser-known fictional narratives because that is essentially the work of a social impact experience. It exposes people to ideas, concepts, belief systems, and events that they have never been able to learn about, or show them a new angle or perspective of something they are aware of.
The beauty of Reimagined is what I like to call the Alice in Wonderland rabbit hole effect: We start you with something somewhat familiar—Volume I: Nyssa, a re-telling of a Brothers Grimm tale, that follows a little witch learning what fear is—but then in future volumes, we give a glimpse into niche cultures and stories that are not always highlighted by mainstream media.
JC: If we’re using this new medium for the potential that it has and all that it can be, then we should all share the responsibility to rebuild it differently. That means seeking out the collaboration of people who have stories that have yet to be explored and supporting them in any way we can in the process.
MTH: This is a continuation of the social impact point above. The idea of retelling and reimagining these stories from different cultures means that we also get to adjust, change, and shift the power dynamics of these stories that are often imbalanced. In Volume I: Nyssa, the protagonist of the original Brothers Grimm tale is actually a young boy. In Volume II, we’re going to reinvestigate the trope of fighting for absolute power between siblings, while in Volume III, we’re spinning a new thread into the theme of othering and isolation. For us, an inclusive lens isn’t just about showcasing more of one but playing into the nuances of all.
JC: It was! That would’ve been a fabulous coincidence! When we discussed the series with Meta, we all saw the potential and meaning of aligning Volume I: Nyssa’s launch on Meta Quest TV with Women’s History Month. It’s a female-led team exploring diverse stories through this lens. When we gave thought to what we were trying to say, the date of each volume’s premiere became increasingly important. We’re grateful for Meta’s support throughout the process and are excited to be included in your slate of releases this month.
MTH: Yes! In our original pitch to Meta, we really highlighted the concept that Reimagined is not just about the stories themselves but also about who is behind the table or behind the camera, aka the decision makers.
Reimagined is a female-led, directed, and produced team. It’s a VR animation series that allows us to showcase a rhetoric that defies the imbalance of women in tech, women in film, and women in storytelling that is often spoken about. This is especially true when you adjust this lens to include women of color, like me. I am thrilled to be able to align the series’ launch to Women’s History Month.
JC: We were in production for about a year, but what a wild ride. Meta confirmed their partnership with us in June 2021, I gave birth to my first child in August, and we kicked off pre-production in October. I still don’t know how it managed to work out, but thankfully the team was really supportive. We would joke during production meetings that the project was keeping me up more nights than the baby! I can still clearly remember pulling references together on a Pinterest board during overnight feedings. Truth be told, it helped keep me awake!
MTH: We began the official concept art and script discussions with Studio Syro in October 2021 and wrapped production in October 2022. But before then, we had been developing, pitching, and working on Volume I: Nyssa since the end 2018.
When Julie first approached me in 2018 with the kernel of the idea that transformed into Volume I: Nyssa,she asked me one very specific question: Where do you see something like this VR experience premiering? Without any hesitation, I told her that this would be a perfect project to premiere at Venice Film Festival, especially if we lean less into a live action VR film and more into an animated VR film. I think she thought I was crazy, or maybe just crazy ambitious. But lo and behold, four years later in 2022, Reimagined Volume I: Nyssa premiered at the Venice Film Festival in the Venice Immersive category.
JC: World premiering Nyssa at La Biennale was its own crazy thing. It was surreal to walk the red carpet at the world’s oldest film festival representing a VR piece. I’m proud to say since then, the reaction has been great! Everyone has been really enthusiastic about the piece. For me, whenever someone laughs at something I’ve written, it’s really gratifying. While we were in Venice, someone told me they dreamt they were Blue and had to protect Nyssa. I don’t know what it meant specifically, but I cracked up when I heard it. It was just wild.
MTH: I recall sitting in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, at the Dreamland XR festival, and someone asked me if I attended Venice. I told them yes and explained to them that I had produced Reimagined Volume I: Nyssa. They then went on to emphatically perform some of the iconic lines written by Julie. From Broom has a face and ... is a Broom to That’s the frog’s problem.It was a surreal moment of realizing that this experience really resonates with people. It brings out their inner-child without turning off their adult sensibilities.
JC: You’ll have to wait and see, but each installment is a world unto itself, so we’re excited to introduce our audience to the upcoming volumes. I’m incredibly proud of what our team has in store for everyone.
MTH: When I describe the audience for Reimagined, I usually use the words ageless audience. The core of Reimagined is to take you on a fantastic narrative experience that is highly entertaining to you at any moment or phase in your life. Whether you are immersed in Volume I: Nyssa or future volumes, we want you to not only be embodied in the timelessness of these stories but to also find surprising moments to laugh, cry, or reflect.
JC: Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @reimaginedvr for series updates and announcements!
More details about Volume II, directed by Michaela, are coming very soon!
MTH: It took a small village of incredible witches and warlocks to put Volume I: Nyssa together. I am forever grateful to them for working their magic to make this experience come to life on Meta Quest TV!
Watch Reimagined Volume I: Nyssa for free on Meta Quest TV today, and if you like what you see, check out some behind-the-scenes content:
