the gallerya brand new FMV/liveaction game and interactive movie hybrid, is now available for iOS users on the Apple Store and Android users on Google Play, as announced by Aviary Studios. The interactive authoring for The Gallery was provided by Stornaway.io. The build and porting of the Unity game engine was done by Aviary. The gallery is located (subtitled) in 11 languages: Arabic, Chinese (Simplified), French, Italian, German, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazilian), Russian, Spanish (Latin America) and Turkish.
The Gallery is a suspenseful mix of hostage thriller and social drama with a touch of global film festival aesthetic, written and directed by Paul Raschid, one of the most prolific live-action video game/interactive movie creatives. twenty years. Two personas. You need all your resources if you want to get through the night.
The game contains 5 hours of content, 150 branches and 18 different endings
With its blend of outstanding production values, a great cast and a nuanced script that depicts the games’ two time periods, 1981 and 2021, both of which are of considerable political, social and cultural importance in British history, The Gallery was created to be both to captivate gamers and lovers of interactive movies.
Starring George Blagden (Louis XIV in Versailles and Athelstan in Vikings), Anna Popplewell (Susan Pevensie in the Disney Narnia series), Kara Tointon (Mr. Selfridge and Eastenders), Rebecca Root (The Queen’s Gambit), Richard Fleeshman (The Sandman and Coronation Street), Shannon Tarbet (Killing Eve and Love Sarah) and Fehinti Balogun, The Gallery has an impressive cast (I May Destroy You).
Funnily enough, the premise came to me in a dream in 2016! I wrote the script as a traditional linear film, but eventually I turned to other projects. After entering the interactive space and creating ‘The Complex’, ‘Five Dates’ and ‘Deathtrap Dungeon: The Golden Room’ I felt so empowered by the format that I looked back at other scripts that I could ‘interactivate’ – it was a no-brainer to return to ‘The Gallery’
Paul Raschid
“We had planned to film in 2020, but like all independently funded productions, we came to a halt because of Covid. Fortunately, the UK government announced a manufacturing insurance scheme to cover Covid, so we kept going until it was implemented at the end of September 2020. We were finally able to tell cast and crew that we had the green light to start at Stephens House & Gardens in Finchley, London, in February 2021.” he added.
Speak about what challenges did they face? Paul went on to say, “The production itself was ambitious – we shot 5 hours of content in 6 weeks (3 weeks for the 1981 story and 3 weeks for the 2021 story). Logistically, this was a pace I got used to shooting on all my projects. It was made possible by an extremely talented and experienced cast and crew who brought their A-game every day.
But the new challenge that none of us had much experience with was, of course, Covid. At the time of the shooting, the UK was in the midst of a new wave and we were completely cut off. So my biggest challenge was navigating 6 weeks of uncertainty that weighed on all our plans. Going to work every day, not knowing if we would have a positive case and have to close, increased the pressure to a level I had never experienced before … but a woman’s happiness smiled and we did not lose a single day to Covid interruption. It was a miracle and a tribute to our cast, crew and support team who adhered so strictly to the protocols.” he added
Working on The Gallery was one of the most rewarding experiences I’ve ever had as an actor. The entire team felt fully committed to delivering a sample of a project – a 400 page mountain of creativity from the mind of Paul Raschid. This dedication meant that as an actor you felt fully supported to just play and be brave and brave with the choices you made. This is what you always strive for as an actor, but rarely do you feel so capable of doing it. Paul and his team made the process of making The Gallery the perfect combination – working on something extremely challenging, while always remembering to have fun in what we do. Was the whole experience so worth it?
George Blades about their experience making The Gallery
“I am absolutely in awe of Paul. I don’t really know how he was able to keep so many different parts of the same story in his head while we were shooting at such breakneck speed. He was incredibly diligent and so well prepared for the shoot. I am very grateful to him for how open he was to George and my questions and suggestions, and how he supported us on set. He knew exactly what he needed from every day and still found space and time to let us try things or discover new notes and beats.” said Anna Popplewell
“The Gallery just felt like such an adventure of a shoot. Every morning I looked at the 21 pages we had to film that day with a bunch of stunts and explosions and props and Covid precautions and moving parts and different cast jumping in and out of different setups and thought, ‘this isn’t possible. And then, at the end of the day, somehow we would have done it. It was hard, but there was a great feeling that the cast and crew were all involved, and that was really special: the teamwork.” she added.
Are you excited because The Gallery is now available on both Android and iOS? Let us know in the comments below!
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