To offer fans deeper engagement with the series and extend its narrative beyond the linear broadcast, we created a VR experience for Mr. Robot as groundbreaking as the series itself. We set out to do something we felt hadn’t been done before; we wanted to create a truly narrative cinematic VR experience for a TV series that felt authentic to its source material. As a result, we created a 12-minute mini-episode of Mr. Robot in VR that authentically captures the tone and sensibilities of the series in an entirely new medium. The piece takes viewers on a flashback journey with Elliot as he recalls the never-before-seen memory of his first date with love interest, Shayla. We chose to tell this inherently personal memory in VR to leverage the medium’s immersive storytelling capabilities to evoke the inescapable feelings of presence, intimacy and empathy in ways traditional TV could not allow.

The piece stars Rami Malek in his Emmy-award winning role as the anxiety-addled vigilante hacker, Elliot Alderson. Through innovative techniques in the VR medium, using nearly 40 cameras and one of the first projects to use multiple camera systems, the piece reveals Elliot’s vulnerabilities and insecurities in ways that viewers can not only see, but can viscerally feel. As Elliot speaks to the viewer in voice-over, he immerses them intimately into his memory, forcing empathy for his sense of loss and disillusion. Masterful sound design separates external sounds from Elliot’s voice-over, allowing viewers to feel like they are really inside Elliot's head.  Claustrophobic camera placement, uncomfortable framing and jarring jump cuts reveal Elliot’s anxiety and paranoia with moody elegance. Scene transitions, often overlooked in VR, are deliberately crafted to guide the viewer through the experience and ensure they do not disengage from the narrative.

We debuted the VR at San Diego Comic-Con at a live simulcast viewing with the show’s cast and creator at PetcoPark and via a VR app for remote participants. By leveraging the app’s technology, we could control the timing of the video’s release and create an unprecedented premiere event; the largest VR simulcast ever, after which the video disappeared from the app. Thereafter, Comic-Con attendees could experience the piece at storefront in Downtown San Diego that we transformed into a perfect replica of Elliot’s apartment—where the VR begins and ends—and the Mr. Robot Computer Repair Shop, also featured in the series. Physically immersing fans in this environment added context and an additional layer of interactivity to the overall experience. Additionally, fans could request a ride in an Uber fleet of Mr. Robot repair vans, which carried VR headsets playing the video, making Uber an unexpected VR distribution platform.