The experience begins in the Los Angeles of the future. The future anthropologist Myra welcomes the user. In the foreground is a large, futuristic table; in the background, a city panorama with skyscrapers glowing in the warm glow of the Los Angeles sun can be seen through the window panes of the room.

First, Myra explains what will await the viewer, then she guides him or her through the future. During the journey, they make it clear that mobility will be much more than the mere transport of people and things once digitization is complete.

Together with Hessischer Rundfunk and Fraunhofer IAO, expanding focus is entering the field of cinematic VR to realize a unique experience with a learning factor on the topic of mobility of the future. As production sponsors we were able to win Wunderbar Together – the Germany Year in the USA, the Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, the Sächsische Landesanstalt für privaten Rundfunk und Neue Medien as well as the Thüringer Staatskanzlei.

The film was directed by Peter Baumann, winner of the 41st Student Academy Awards in the Best International Short Film category with the Student Oscar bronze award and director of the Austrian TV series Meiberger – Im Kopf des Täters (2019), among others. Christoph Iwanow, who has already worked as a cinematographer for ARD, Microsoft and BMW, took over the cinematographic area for 2049: Time Travel Mobility.
Filming took place at the KinderMedienZentrum in Erfurt. Kristen Bush as Myra was filmed stereoscopically in a blue 360° environment and implemented in fully computer-generated 360° spaces in post-production.

The Central German partners include the VFX studio blendFX, the company Lumalenscape for further VFX and post-production work as well as 3D modeling and furthermore a multitude of freelancers. Thanks to this diversity of experts in storytelling, concept art, modeling and Unity, we were able to start an iterative process to create the story, the world and the interactions. Iterative circles emerged in which influence worked reciprocally and all aspects emerged simultaneously.

Accompanying this, Fraunhofer IAO conducted a study to investigate which feelings and attitudes were driving the future visions of the VR experience arouse in users. The hr/arte science documentary takes up the results of the study and places them in the context of international mobility research.