We made a documentary about the future of humanity.

Written by Nathan Phillips x Julia Gorbach

At THAT we have lots of ideas. Sometimes people buy them and sometimes they don’t. That’s why we started THAT Originals. Originals is a new discipline at THAT that conceives and executes work that clients aren’t ready to buy yet, using Dum Dum augmented intelligence tools, a diverse network of creators, and emerging technologies.

Closed Up is a new original short film shot entirely remotely at the beginning of lock down. It’s based on the observation that as every single conversation became a video call and it began to feel like we were all subjects and viewers of a documentary shot entirely in close up. The film itself is a documentary featuring 20 artists, technologists, and experts all sheltering-in-place trying to connect. It’s visually structured like a conference call, but it evolves as you watch. As the call fills up and the small talk ends, cameras start to flip from the grid of faces to the forward facing cameras revealing where the speakers actually are in locations all over the world and in the virtual space. Eventually, a virus infects the call and everything becomes beautifully undone.

At the beginning of this year, we were disconnected by our screens. Then Covid-19 hit and we were all catapulted online. Suddenly, the only way to stay connected was through our screens. We were forced to discover how to exist, interact, and move forward alone or across the digital divide.

To create clarity of how to guide the user through this experience, Closed Up is part of a larger narrative experience that investigates and documents the future of humanity. This includes “Calls from the Future” interactive conference calls where we speculate the future with people from all over the world and “Forward Facing Camera” a virtual camera you can use to show where you want to be.

We’ll be hosting private virtual screenings in October. To join us, RSVP here.

THAT Originals is led by Julia Gorbach, an award-winning creator and filmmaker.