 Hello everyone, welcome to this special CUBE Conversation. I'm John Furrier, the co-founder of SiliconANGLE Media. Co-host of theCUBE, we're here at Sundance Film Festival, the Intel Tech Lounge for one-on-one conversations with Kane Lee, who's the head of content, the Baobab Studios in California. Thanks for joining me here at the Intel Tech Lounge. Really excited to be here. Yeah, we just had a panel on the new creative here in Intel that's showing some great technology, things like volume metric, all kinds of really hardcore tech, really powering some of the VR, AR, mixed reality, all the trends that are happening around user experience. But a new creative artist is out there, a new storyteller. It could be a 12-year-old to a 50-year-old. You're in the middle of it. You're an award-winning producer. So you're building the stories, you're building the content. What's the biggest thing happening here at Sundance? I think it's really interesting because content has always been my passion. Good storytelling. And growing up, it was always like books and films and all these traditional mediums that inspired me to sort of dream. And right here in Sundance, we're in the middle of a great sea change going on because technology and art are coming together in such a fast pace to really usher in the new generation of storytelling. And we're all very fortunate to be in the middle of that. This is a very unique period in our history as humans and our culture to challenge what storytelling really means because VR, for us at Baalbap, is the next great medium. And Sundance recognizes that. Technology companies like Intel recognize that. So we're all coming together at the film festival and working together to define what that will mean. Kay, you're an Emmy Award-winning producer. Baalbap's doing some cutting edge work. Take a minute to talk about what Baalbap is doing and why is it so relevant? We know it's cool. We've interviewed the CEO and founder before. Share with the audience, what is Baalbap doing? Why is it so relevant? So we formed a couple of years ago and at the time VR was, and it still is and it's very nascent stage, one thing that we recognized was an opportunity to try to create content that would appeal for people from the ages of five to 105. There was a lot of documentaries. There was a lot of experiential, art house type of material. And there was a lot of gaming type of content for VR. For us, we're big lovers of animation and how that unites families, kids, grandparents, teenagers. And we saw an opportunity to try to create content that could appeal to all of these different types of people through animation. So that's sort of our mission is to inspire your childlike sense of wonder using two mediums that are so meant for each other, which are animation and VR. I'd like to talk about some of the work you got going on a little bit later, but I want to talk about that 12 year old in his room or the 16 year old that's got a full rig tricked out with the keyboard, they're laying down music, they're building music, they're gaming, they might be creating art. They are living, breathing, creative and they're self-learning. They're jumping on YouTube, they're jumping into VR meetups and groups, they're self-learning. How do you connect to them? What do they do? What's the playbook? How do these people go to the next level? What's the industry doing around this? I mean, I think one example I'll give is I was at Anne C Film Festival and that's one of the biggest animation focused film festivals in the world. And I was showcasing our very first pieces called Invasion, starring Ethan Hawke, where you're actually in the body of a bunny rabbit and you meet another bunny rabbit, you create a bond and together you thwart an alien invasion on Earth. What was so interesting to me was I had never seen that sort of that demo, that teenage demo where young boys and girls would actually bring their parents back to the experience and say, this is what I wanna study in college, this is what I wanna do in art school. So I think that they, growing up with all this new technology, really sort of get the idea of being in real time and having storytelling in real time. And seeing that level of interest from that age group was very sort of affirming to us that we're on the right track in terms of the next generation of storytelling. Well, you guys are definitely on the right track, I can say that, but I think what your point confirms and connects the dots for people that might not be in the industry is that the old tech world was, the geeks did it, software was an art and you had to be in that CS club. The democratization is a big trend here and what you're talking about is people are humanizing. They can see real emotional practical examples. So the young guns, the young kids, they don't have baggage. They look at it with a clean slate and going, I want that. I can see myself using this. I can self actualize with this. So it really kind of tips the scales and proves the point. Absolutely, we world premiered Asteroids, our second VR experience starring Elizabeth Banks and one of the biggest millennials stars, Ingrid Nielsen, last year at Sundance, even had the first red carpet VR premiere in Sundance history. And watching the younger generation, it was our first piece where we actually used the controllers that had just come out in that past year and watching them going with no preconceived notions on what using controllers could be, to be a character in the experience, it was just fascinating because they picked it up faster than anyone and learned the language of being a character and having hand controllers as a robot so you could play fetch with an alien dog or you could mirror their actions or they might mirror yours and creating these bonds and these experiences. So that sort of fresh perspective is really exciting. Talk about the role of these experiences and how they connect people because one of the big trends also online today, in today's, I would say the peg the evolution is you're really getting at the immersive experience, I believe that, but content creates bonds between people and good experiences, great glue between relationships and forges new ones, maybe enhances existing ones. This is a big part of the media. Absolutely, for us emotional connection is the key to getting people to put on headsets and to come back to our experiences and that emotional connection for us is what we've witnessed in terms of people forming bonds with our characters. So everyone knows that VR can bring you to brand new worlds and exciting places and immerse you in places that you can never go. But the one thing that I think we learned in our experience with VR is that if you can create a bond between the user and other characters in the experience that they believe is real and we use psychology, technology, and storytelling to do that, then they wanna come back again and again. So one of the trickiest parts of VR is trying to get people to have repeat views and the feedback we've gotten from a lot of the technology platforms is people come back time and time again and it seems to be because they actually believe these characters are real and that they're friends. So talk about your journey because you're at the front end of this wave and you're participating, you're creating art, you're creating work products, you're building technology with the Bay of Ab Studios. What would you do if you were 16? I mean, if you were a sophomore in high school, knowing what you know, if you can go back in time or you could be today, what you know, 16, what would you do? When I was 16, I had no idea what I was gonna do. When I graduated from college, I had no idea what I was gonna do. But what I will say is VR is really unique because it's so interdisciplinary. So it actually invites people from all different fabrics of society and different types of education. So I would encourage 16 year olds to just be who they are and to play. And if I talk to my 16 year old self, I would have just encouraged myself to follow my interests and pursuits more because many years later, it actually, VR has brought me back to a lot of my roots and different things I studied going up and was fascinated by. So it ignited your passion? Absolutely. Or things that you were really into that you might have forgotten, is that? Yeah, I mean, I studied something called Symbolic Systems at Stanford University and I had no idea what I was doing. It combined computer science, psychology, linguistics and philosophy. And the first thing I did after college was pursue potentially a career as a lawyer. But now it all makes sense. VR brings everything together. What could have been, you know? Absolutely. Well, I mean, I love neural networks, symbolic systems. This is the underpinnings of this complex fabric that is powering this content market, right? So I'd love to get your thoughts. Is there a success formula that you're seeing emerging? I know there's no silver bullet yet. Lot of experimentation, lot of new things happening. But as this technology and the scaffolding around it is being built, while also original content is being built, it's still evolving. What's the success formula? And what's the pitfall? What's the stay away from? I think it's about, it's really about good storytelling. And I think it's a time to be courageous and brave and put forward stories that wouldn't have otherwise been told in the more traditional mediums. Our latest project in production that I'm so personally excited about is called Legend of Crow. It starts John Legend as a beautiful bird with the most beautiful feathers and the most gorgeous voice who during dark and cold times must go on a hero's journey to bring light back to the world. Something I feel like in this day and age a lot of people can relate to. But on top of this story being based upon a beautiful Native American legend that hasn't really been exposed to the world, we've taken the opportunity to take the themes of diversity and self-sacrifice and self-acceptance to create an all-star cast of minorities and women. And that's something I feel the younger generations can really relate to because having worked a lot in Hollywood as a producer in traditional TV and film, things take a while and there's a certain way of casting and doing things that follow an older model. And I think younger audiences are excited to have a character like Moth in our experience who speaks both Spanish and English because that's the way the world is today. So I got to ask you a quick, you brought up diversity and inclusion and kind of in your comment. I got to bring this up because you guys do hit a nice demographic I think is super relevant and important in the younger generation. So I talk to a lot of young people all the time. I say things like, you don't need to be a computer scientist to get into this game. You could be super smart. You don't need to learn how to code hardcore coding to get into this. And they respond to that. And that's one kind of, I would say narrative that conventional wisdom might not be right. And the other one is the diversity. So my son, 16 year old says, dad, your generation is so politically correct. Like all this nonsense. So the younger generation is not living what we're living in in these dark times. I would say certainly with diversity, but how does VR really equalize? And will the storm pass? I mean, diversity, inclusion, all that great stuff that our core issues certainly are being worked on. But do we see hope here? Absolutely. I think disruption in the form of a new technology and a new medium is while scary to some people is actually the most exciting and fertile time to equalize. Our CEO, Marine Fan, who was a college class made of mine, always wanted to work in animation. And she finally saw the right opportunity when VR came and we put on headsets for the first time and saw how there could be a new wave of exciting animators through this disruptive technology because everyone else in more traditional animation is so focused on the old model and the old ways of doing things, of getting things off the ground, of financing, of creating certain kinds of content that have been proven over time in the old sort of studio model. What were some of those things that were instrumental in this breakout to forge this new ground? I think a lot of it is the technology being ready, finally being ready. Our CTO, Larry Cutler, actually studied virtual reality at Stanford a decade before Marine and I were there. And he had always been waiting for the right time to go into VR. He preached down, hey kids, I used to walk in the snow with bare feet to you guys or is he, what's his role? How's he doing? He's amazing. He was the head of global character tech for all of DreamWorks Animation. And like I said, I think one thing that distinguishes us from some of the other people in VR is that we're so focused on characters, so focused on them making eye contact with you, with their facial features, reacting in real time and being very believable and forging that bond between you and that character. So for us, that character technology and having the top people in that space work with us is the long-term thing that is gonna differentiate us from the crowd. I'd like to get your reaction to my comment about the computer science and that's mainly mostly a Silicon Valley thing living in Palo Alto. People are struggling when they go to college. What should I major in? And this is a narrative right now. Oh, you gotta learn how to code, you gotta be a computer science major. You don't, you don't have to be a CS major. Some of the most creative and technical brilliance can also come from other disciplines. What's your reaction to that and what's your advice? I mean, I think people should just follow their effort because if you follow what naturally comes to you, what you're good at, and that also has meaning and interest to you and something that you can get feedback along the way, which is the great thing about being in a growing space. You are going to just spend your, you're gonna spend a lot of late nights doing that stuff and you can always bring it into your career path when that happens. And I think we're in a very DIY time in VR. No one knows anything. We're constantly making mistakes, but then learning from them. And that's like the most exciting process of being where we are. So, you know, to people who are of college age, I would just tell them like follow your effort. If you're interested in VR, it's an exciting time to just do it yourself, learn from your mistakes, and then, you know, and try to create something new. What does the new creative mean to you? When you hear that new creative, what does that mean to you? You know, it's interesting being at these talks and panels and at all these festivals, because I feel like a lot of people are looking for that new innovator who comes out of nowhere and sort of just redefines the industry. And that could very well happen. But I actually think what's really exciting about right now is it's more about understanding the bridge between all the different mediums and disciplines. I think new things are created when you combine areas that have not been traditionally aligned. So, for example, Orson Welles arguably created one of the first great cinematic masterpieces in Citizen Kane. And he came, but he was able to do so by bringing values from theater and from radio and areas where he sort of learned the art of storytelling and he was able to combine them in new and interesting ways that people hadn't seen before. So, for me, it's less about looking for that sort of silver bullet of a creative person who comes out of nowhere, but these younger generations who understand these different mediums, combining them and creating connections with them in an exciting way. Brooks Brown from Starbury Studio set on the panel, that's breakout star is gonna be the kid in the basement that no one's ever heard of. Very possibly, but that kid in the basement, he needs to be passionate about a lot of different disciplines. So, what we've tried to emulate in doing so is bringing the best people in gaming, bringing the best people from traditional film, bringing people who had interests in a lot of different areas, different art forms, and letting them kind of play together and learn from each other, argue with each other, you know, and then come up with something that no one's seen before. We're gonna have to come up with cameras, that could be like an experiment, like it's just a reality show in and of itself, all that talent, multi-disciplined together. Absolutely. Dynamite ready to explode. It's the challenge, it's the blessing, it's the curse and the blessing of our medium right now because there's so much more to discover, but if people come in and have an open mind and are willing, you know, if the people from Hollywood are willing to learn from the people who do gaming in Silicon Valley, who are open to learning from the people in New York who grew up on live theater, you know, I feel those, finding that intersection, finding those beautiful intersections are where we're gonna thrive. Well, you guys highlight that multi-discipline everything, but also highlights why diversity is so important. Diversity brings the most perspectives to the table, the most data, most contribution. It might be a little bit longer to work through the arguments, right? I mean, you gotta be patient. You know, absolutely, you have to be patient. You know, we're really lucky to be working with John Legend on our VR piece. He had actually been looking for several years to find wanting to be in play in the space, but not wanting to do it with the wrong partner at the wrong time. So it's, you know, there's an art to timing in everything that we do right now. And when we presented to him the story we're doing with the Legend of Crow, you know, it felt like the perfect sort of match. Legend of Crow coming out ahead of content. Cain Lee here at Baobab Studios. Thanks for spending the time here in the CUBE Conversation. What's the timing of the release of the program? Probably late spring, but we're going to be announcing some news around that soon. And we have some more exciting updates about it that I can't wait to share. All right, we are here at the Intel Tech Lounge as the CUBE Conversation Sundance Film Festival part of our coverage of Sundance 2018. I'm John Furrier. Thanks for watching. Thanks.