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A Journey to the Unknown

Enter a new chapter of storytelling.

A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA

Insight

Endless territories to be explored.

As the year 2023 is placed under the sign of AI, a new paradigm is taking shape. Artificial intelligences are entering a new relationship with us and taking an increasingly important place in our lives. As the possibilities opened by AI mostly remain to be explored, the opportunity to discover how they would impact the future of creation, storytelling, immersive experiences and visual arts arose. The exploration of creating something unique commenced, fuelled by the desire to unveil what is hidden in the unknown.

Idea

A journey to the unknown.

An immersive and interactive experience designed to explore the technological possibilities of AI, through a novel process of co-creation between human and machine for narration, art direction and music composition.
A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA
Visitors are invited to follow their instinct to generate a story that is always a surprise.
A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA
Each choice determines the course of the adventure, offering alternative endings, different characters to play with, and new levels to unveil by restarting the experience.
A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA

Narration

The storyline was co-written with ChatGPT to enrich the narrative and create surprises throughout the experience. The description of the characters generated at the end of the adventure is a pure invention of the AI, from precise keywords and a pre-defined tone of voice.
A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA
A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA
A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA

Art direction

The artistic direction of the experience is fed with dreaminess, featuring an earthy colour palette and fantastical creatures. Translating this visual universe into prompts, MidJourney was asked to generate an image bank, with dozens of imaginary landscapes connected to the global storytelling. Creative work that would otherwise take several weeks to complete could be carried out in a few hours.

Soundtrack

To create a musical universe to match the artistic direction and the narrative thread, the soundtrack of the experience was generated with Soundraw from keywords, a style, an atmosphere and a tempo. A dreamlike theme is revealed through different variations heard throughout the adventure.
A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA
A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA

Development

The narrative thread unfolds like exploring a book, with a playful and immersive approach. The visual ingredients have been developed to generate effects for each of the visitor’s choices and to reinforce the interaction through parallax or the use of the gyroscope.
A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA
A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA
A Journey to the Unknown by AKQA

Impact

A pioneering way to tell stories.

Thanks to this collaboration with AI, the development process proved to be more efficient and accelerated in both creativity and production, with only four weeks from brief to delivery. The experience is a glimpse into the possibilities of working with AI in terms of storytelling, immersion and engagement.
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Project Tags

Companies

  • AKQA logo

    AKQA

    • Design

Skills

AKQA logo
The imaginative application of art and science