''Henry'' is a 2015

virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), edu ...

film created by

Oculus Story Studio Oculus Story Studio was an original animated virtual reality film studio that was a division of Oculus VR. The studio was started by Oculus VR to pioneer animated virtual reality filmmaking and educate, inspire, and foster community for filmmak ...

which was premiered on July 28, 2015. It was created in

Unreal Engine 4 Unreal Engine (UE) is a 3D computer graphics game engine developed by Epic Games, first showcased in the 1998 first-person shooter game ''Unreal (1998 video game), Unreal''. Initially developed for Personal computer, PC first-person shooters, i ...

and narrated by Elijah Wood. ''Henry'' won an

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Original Interactive Program in 2016.

Plot

The film starts with the narrator ( Elijah Wood) explaining that Henry is a

hedgehog A hedgehog is a spiny mammal of the subfamily Erinaceinae, in the eulipotyphlan family Erinaceidae. There are seventeen species of hedgehog in five genera found throughout parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in New Zealand by introductio ...

who has no friends because he likes to hug everyone. The viewer is then placed inside Henry's home on his birthday where, after a short time, Henry appears from the kitchen with his birthday cake. Sad at being alone on his birthday, Henry lights the candle on his cake and makes a wish before blowing it out. At this point, a group of animal balloons come to life and fly around the house, before one approaches Henry for a hug; the balloon pops as Henry tries to hug it. Terrified, the balloons dart around the room trying to escape from Henry before flying out of the door, leaving Henry alone. Shortly afterwards, a knock at the door reveals that the balloons have returned, bringing with them a turtle. The turtle hugs Henry, without being hurt by his quills, and Henry is happy again.

Production

Oculus Story Studio began creation of ''Henry'' envisioning it as a comedy, eventually deciding to create a story that viewers would find engaging through their empathy for the main character, rather than from action or suspense. To achieve this, the creators made Henry look at the viewer during certain moments, especially those in which he is feeling strong emotions. The creators incorporated "discoverables" to make use of the virtual reality medium - if the viewer looks in particular directions small events will occur, such as a

ladybug Coccinellidae () is a widespread family of small beetles ranging in size from . They are commonly known as ladybugs in North America and ladybirds in Great Britain. Some entomologists prefer the names ladybird beetles or lady beetles as th ...

crawling into view. ''Henry'' was created using Unreal Engine 4 but, following the creation of ''Lost'', Oculus Story Studio moved from using the stock engine to modifying it to suit their requirements. Following the film's premiere, the studio publicly released the Unreal Engine code and assets used in its creation to aid other filmmakers.

Release

The film premiered in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

on 28 July 2015, and was publicly released in early 2016.

Reception

In ''

Polygon In geometry, a polygon () is a plane figure that is described by a finite number of straight line segments connected to form a closed '' polygonal chain'' (or ''polygonal circuit''). The bounded plane region, the bounding circuit, or the two ...

'', Ben Kuchera described ''Henry'' as "perfect for anyone who wants a gentle and warm introduction to virtual reality". Will Mason of '' UploadVR'' reviewed the film positively, particularly praising the emotional impact of Henry looking directly at the viewer. Emily Yoshida of ''The Verge'', however, found ''Henry'' disappointing, saying that she found herself "incredibly aware of, distracted, even, by enry'sstatus as a rendered object", preferring photorealistic or recorded VR films. In 2016, ''Henry'' won an

for Outstanding Original Interactive Program, the first Emmy awarded to an original virtual reality production.

References

External links

*{{Official, https://storystudio.oculus.com/en-us/henry/ Virtual reality films Emmy Award-winning programs Oculus Rift Unreal Engine Oculus VR