Introduction to Hyper-Reality
We’ve been following the work of critical designer and filmmaker Keiichi Matsuda since we first caught a glimpse of a each entrancing and disturbing film he produced for his Master of Architecture in 2010. The short POV clip transports viewers to a near future world where augmented reality is a really constant and barely tyrannical layer on top of on a regular basis life.
The Concept Film
Fast forward six years via a successfully funded Kickstarter campaign, Keiichi and team have just released an all recent concept film that dives deeper into speculating what a future living with augmented reality might mean for us. Kickstarter backers were after all rightfully first to set eyes on the ‘provocative and kaleidoscopic’ short film but Keiichi kindly invited us along to the film’s premiere screening and Q&A in central London.
Exploring the Future of Augmented Reality
Like all good speculative visions of the long run, Hyper-Reality doesn’t shrink back from grappling with the complexities and interrelation of technological trends—weaving in hints to themes as diverse as gamification, commercial overload, personal development, personal promotion, service rating, chatbots, cyber-crime, and even existential Googling. The depth and detail of the fiction being each a pleasure and pretty troubling to behold.
The Storyline and Characters
The film is about in a future MedellÃn city in Colombia with the protagonist being a lower middle-class woman who relies on what Keiichi imagines a ‘freemium’ augmented reality service might appear like—hence the constant visual and bombardment of consumer promoting. Having spent years imagining and designing the main points of this future world, Keiichi revealed he now has ambitions to show the piece right into a trilogy, with the subsequent film showing the world through the augmented eyes of a premium user, and a 3rd exploring the lifetime of a hacker-type user.
From Concept to Reality
Interestingly, Keiichi also tells he’s currently working with a startup to develop among the gestural interfaces he imagined within the film—giving rise to the interesting possibility that he could be the designer in addition to the critiquer of parts of his dystopian vision. Having considered it for thus long and hard nevertheless, perhaps we will hope that our lives future UX is protected in his hands?
Conclusion
Hyper-Reality is a thought-provoking film that challenges us to think in regards to the potential consequences of emerging technologies on our every day lives. With its vivid depiction of a future world where augmented reality is ubiquitous, it invites us to reflect on the implications of such a reality on our relationships, our privacy, and our humanity. As we proceed to develop and integrate recent technologies into our lives, movies like Hyper-Reality function a reminder of the importance of considering the potential long-term effects of our innovations.
