Chinese Immortals is a VR experimental short that fuses Chinese folklore with contemporary digital media.The work embraces photogrammetry’s aesthetic “failures” — fragmented textures, digital noise, collapsing spaces — as metaphors for systemic glitches in modern civilization. This glitch aesthetic underpins a dual-layered narrative: the main thread explores the survival of cultural traditions in the digital age, while a hidden layer—embedded within these glitches—critiques the dissonance in human systems. In line with the Speculative Futures theme, Chinese Immortals ultimately questions how traditional spiritual “genes” might coexist with emergent digital lifeforms, inviting audience to imagine new symbioses between the ancient and the futuristic.

This VR short film was created using a hybrid workflow combining photogrammetry and real-time game engine rendering. First, over 20,000 photographs were captured on-site across various regions in China to document local deity statues and their surrounding cultural spaces. These images were processed using photogrammetry software (RealityCapture) to generate high-resolution 3D models of the statues and environments. The models were then optimized and imported into Unreal Engine 5, where lighting, spatial transitions, camera movements, and narrative timing were designed and executed within a VR-compatible workflow. The final piece was rendered as a 360-degree panoramic video compatible with mainstream VR headsets (PICO, Quest, HTC Vive).