I interviewed Leo Metcalf & Michael Golembewski about The Time Before on Friday, August 29, 2025 at Venice Immersive in Venice, Italy.
Here is the story synopsis for The Time Before:
- “Trapped between waking life and dreams, Olly delves into his childhood memories, navigating the fantastical dreamscapes his sister created to shield them from a fractured home. A journey into the buried past that shapes who we are. His story unfolds across two realms: raw, hand-drawn memories captured in childhood sketches, and surreal underwater live-action dreamscapes. As memory and imagination blur, The Time Before explores the emotional weight of a volatile father, a mother lost in the fog of memory, and a sister who offered escape through imagination and dreams. A meditation on the stories we tell ourselves to survive, and what is lost in the telling.”
Here are the contextual domains that are explored:
- Combination of personal memories [1] as well fantastical dreamscapes [9] created with the help of his sibling / sister [3] in order to preserve identity and Self [1] in the context of a dissolving and traumatic family and home [4]. The neighborhood with nature [3]. Implicit themes of death [8], and the existential suffering from loss & grief [12]
Here is the Elemental Center of Gravity:
1st Center of Gravity of Emotional Presence: Narrative-driven, immersive animation that represent memories and juxtaposed with 360 videos that represent dreams. The collision of the past with the future. The struggle to try to feel FEELINGS. Emotional Stuntedness. [MEMORY] [DREAMS] |
2nd Center of Gravity of Earth Element / Environmental and Embodied Presence: Mash-up of the virtual and the real, combining cinematic 360 video with hand-drawn animations. Also the spatial ambisonic audio mixed with more traditional stereo. Explores the lines between dreams, memories, and the combination of the two. Also created multi-layered montages of 360 video underwater shots to create a surreal, dreamlike texture |
3rd Center of Gravity of Fire Element / Active Presence: A few embodied interactions that reflect turning points in the narrative |
4th Center of Gravity of Air Element / Mental and Social Presence: Either Dialogue or narration. The speculative realm of dreams and imagination are core themes. [IMAGINATION] The normal RULES of reality have changed within dreams |
Archetypal Themes and Character Explored:
- This is a piece about escape, distortion, and the quiet cost of staying silent. Also, about MEMORY, IMAGINATION, and DREAMS. Dreams and Fantasy: “Olly delves into his childhood memories, navigating the fantastical dreamscapes his sister created to shield them from a fractured home.” Ultimately trying to have a cathartic emotional expression. Battling all the ways in which we were shut down, locked up, or dealing with unexamined childhood traumas. “the difficulty many children, especially boys, carry into adulthood when taught to suppress emotion.” Themes: “The Time Before explores the emotional weight of a volatile father, a mother lost in the fog of memory, and a sister who offered escape through imagination and dreams.” A reckoning with the past and memories : “consider the fragility of their own memory”
Artist Statement:
- “Much of who we are is shaped by childhood memories we can’t fully recall, let alone understand — yet their emotional ripples run deep. The Time Before explores this terrain through the eyes of Olly, a boy retreating into shifting inner landscapes shaped by memory, imagination, and loss. The piece invites not just observation but emotional and physical participation. In the darkness of the headset, I hope participants will consider the fragility of their own memory — and the difficulty many children, especially boys, carry into adulthood when taught to suppress emotion. This is a piece about escape, distortion, and the quiet cost of staying silent.”
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Music: Fatality
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