Tongal Partners with Nokia for Groundbreaking Virtual Reality Film Project

Creators to Film in VR Using New Nokia OZO Camera

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Tongal, the creative content platform that gives brands, studios and advertisers access to its community of talented, independent film creators, today announced it is partnering with Nokia for its first-ever virtual reality project, “Look Around You.” The partnership allows creators to develop 120-second shorts that show off the breakthrough capabilities of Nokia’s new OZO Virtual Reality camera, bringing to life virtual reality stories never possible before now.

The project consists of a three-part competition – a concept, pitch and video phase – during which any of Tongal’s 80,000+ community members can submit ideas and videos that take advantage of the extra immersion and dimensions provided by the OZO camera. Two filmmakers with winning pitches will produce their short using the camera along with technical and postproduction support from Nokia, and as a grand prize, the creator of the final winning short will receive their own OZO.

“Tongal’s community represents the next new wave of great filmmaking talent. They’re making films for every screen using new technology and equipment in inventive and resourceful ways,” said James DeJulio, co-founder and president, Tongal. “Virtual reality has exploded in the last year, so exploring this technology with Nokia on this and future projects with our partners opens up limitless possibilities both for this project and the future of storytelling. This is an exciting new venture for Tongal, and we’re confident our community will jump at the chance to be first to experiment with such cutting-edge technology.”

This is the first film project partnership between Nokia and Tongal, both of which are making their first forays into virtual reality space.

“With the launch of the OZO VR Camera, we really want to get people excited about the possibility of this technology at one of its purest levels, which is storytelling,” said Guido Voltolina, head of presence capture, Nokia. “I’m excited to finally put this tool into the hands of Tongal’s community and the VR community everywhere.”

Beginning today, anyone can register at tongal.com and pitch their 500-character concept submissions for an original virtual reality film. The top two concepts will be awarded $1,000 each. The pitch phase, starting August 26, allows filmmakers to propose their take for bringing one of the winning concepts to production. Filmmakers who contribute the winning pitches will each receive $20,000 in funding and will create their short with the OZO camera. The grand prize winner will receive their very own Nokia OZO camera.

About Tongal

Tongal is a platform that opens up its community of talented, independent creators to advertisers, brands and entertainment companies looking to produce unique video content. Tongal’s global creative community creates TV commercials, digital advertising, and original content including feature films and has produced more videos for brands than any other company, resulting in more than $20 million in creator earnings and seven short films that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. Tongal has collaborated with such iconic brands and organizations as Anhueser-Busch, Procter & Gamble, LEGO, General Mills, Bacardi and NASA on more than 1,000 projects distributed across every type of screen, totaling more than 1 billion views.

About Nokia

By focusing on the human possibilities of technology, Nokia embraces the connected world to help people thrive. Our three businesses are leaders in their fields: Nokia Networks provides broadband infrastructure, software and services; HERE provides mapping, navigation and location intelligence; and Nokia Technologies provides advanced technology development and licensing. www.nokia.com

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20150729005142/en/

Tongal
Staley White, 801-461-9769
[email protected]
Allison Champion, 310-689-7228
[email protected]

Source: Tongal

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