#1775: The Continuous Spatial One-Shot of Backlight’s “La Magie Opera” LBE

I interviewed Jonathan Astruc about La Magie Opera on Friday, August 29, 2025 at Venice Immersive in Venice, Italy.

Here is the story synopsis for La Magie Opera:

"The viewer is part of a group of extras at the Palais Garnier. At the foot of the grand staircase, he crosses paths with Céleste, a young opera singer about to flee the stage. Nervous and unsure, she confides her doubts and dreams to him — torn between the weight of tradition and the desire to find her own voice. Freshly arrived from the provinces, this rising star is about to make her debut in a leading role, but her confidence is shaken. Drawn into her story, the user follows Céleste through the hidden corridors and majestic halls of the Opéra Garnier. As the building comes alive around her, she is transported into iconic scenes from legendary operas — each one echoing a part of her inner journey."

Here are the contextual domains that are explored:

Opera singing [5], but in the context of a long distance journey / adventure [9] as you explore lots of different spatial contexts from the surreal ocean bottom [9] to the mundane virtual castles [4].

Here is the Elemental Center of Gravity:

1st Center of Gravity of Earth Element / Environmental and Embodied Presence: Like a One-Shot Spatial Journey where there's no cuts, no edits, no fade-to-black, but rather a continuous experience where you seamlessly go from one scene to the next. Starting in the opera house, then going under underwater, and then walking through various castle-like scenes and environments.2nd Center of Gravity of Water Element / Emotional Presence: Music plays throughout, and there's a rhythm of the piece where each spatial context has a cut scene that plays out, and then it's all about moving bodies through space to get to the next song, piece of theatrically state acting + musical number, and by the end it feels like quite an awe-inspiring type of journey3rd Center of Gravity of Air Element / Mental and Social Presence: Multiplayer and social experience. There are other people in the experience, and sometimes they can deliberately clip into walls to test the bounds of the systsem, which impacts the plausibility of the virtually-mediated experience for others. Also it's very much a musical operal experience, but with actors playing out scenes. Can't remember if there's any dialogue or if it was all contained in the songs.4th Center of Gravity of Fire Element / Active Presence: There's some degree of freedom for moving through this experience, but very constrained and limited. It's a group experience, and so you're bound by other people, but very musch in the real of constrained agency for how you move through the space, but no narrative agency. They may have also had a few interactable moments with objects in the scene. But nothing that would dramatically shift the experience for different people.

Archetypal Themes and Character Explored:

Themes: "exploration of the ties between doubt, memory and the stage" -- Doubt, Illusion, and Memories

Artist Statement:

"This project is a sensory exploration of the ties between doubt, memory and the stage. More than a tribute to opera, it offers a vivid, inner reimagining where users become Céleste’s silent partners. They journey through shifting worlds where music, design and storytelling blend into an intimate yet spectacular experience. Each scene is a visual metaphor for Céleste’s emotions. The Palais Garnier transforms — from real stage to dreamlike realm — with mirrors and doubles revealing her turmoil and awakening. The viewer quietly follows her through reflections of passion, fear and longing. It’s a poetic immersion into the artist’s soul, merging opera’s lyricism with immersive technology for an introspective, sensory voyage."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_dnnx1ysHg

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Music: Fatality