On January 13th, 2018, 1.4m people across Hawai’i received an SMS from the state’s Emergency Management Agency: “BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO HAWAII. SEEK IMMEDIATE SHELTER. THIS IS NOT A DRILL.” In the minutes that followed, they were forced to confront existential questions that had been unthinkable just moments before: where could they go for shelter? What would remain of their communities if they survived a nuclear blast?
From the product description
About the Event
On the Morning You Wake is a powerful immersive documentary about a fairly recent event that tells the story in a way unique to VR. Rather than clips of newscasts interspersed with people talking about their reactions, you are placed in the center of a retelling that brings the action and emotions to life all around you.
I’ve had this app in my review queue for too long. Honestly, the name and cover don’t really evoke the actual event, and it just sat there waiting for its time. Now I regret not getting to it sooner. It made me feel more emotionally hammered by the experience than perhaps any other app that I’ve reviewed.
I’ve been relatively lucky in that I haven’t had any near-death experiences in my life. Some accidents, some foolish decisions, but never feeling like I was truly facing my mortality like the people of Hawai’i were forced to that morning. Read on to learn more.
About the Experience
Right off the bat, app startup brings you to a menu to choose language options and make a chapter selection. There’s an impressive number of language options, and the chapter list is quite welcome. I’ve previously written about how important it is to provide these choices in a clear way, especially chapter selection when it’s anything longer than a few minutes.
Once you are ready to proceed, you are transported to the center of the story as it unfolds around you. Narration, dramatizations, and an interesting visual style work together to tell the story in an expressive, dynamic way.
Graphics and Sound
I really love the general visual style of this title. Graphics are mostly abstracted a bit through the use of point clouds instead of textured meshes, except where people are portrayed. To really increase the impact of the people, the studio made the choice to capture the actor’s performances volumetrically and place them within the point clouds. This gives them a somewhat spectral quality which really works with the theme.
The voices and sound effects are also top-notch and really contribute to the overall feeling. All in all, a great marriage of storytelling and visuals.
Information Content
Though you’ll learn some things as you watch this, it’s not primarily an educational documentary.
Navigation and Interactivity
Other than the main menu, this is a linear documentary experience with no branching or interactions. You can navigate to the beginnings of chapters from the main menu, but there’s no way to take a break mid-chapter and return.
Updates and Support
No ongoing content
Summary
A moving look at a real-world event. It’s incredibly well-done and tells its story well. Highly recommended for gaining a deeper understanding of something that may be hard to empathize with for anyone who hasn’t had a similar situation.
Pros
- Narration, captions, and chapter selection. Thank you!
- Great immersive storytelling
- Wonderful graphics, sound, and narrative elements
Cons
- No ability to pause mid-chapter and resume
