DEFROST
A Virtual Reality Short Movie
Breaking the 4th Wall
Tanna Frederick, award-winning actress of film and theater has produced a state of the art 360-degree Virtual Reality movie, Defrost, that pulls the viewer into an emotional immersive experience, unlike seeing a movie on the big screen. With the use of Samsung Gear VR goggles, Defrost is one of the first attempts in the industry to tell a narrative story with the 360-degree technology. Frederick said, “Producing this project with the new technology is an attempt to create an emotional experience. The audience follows the first person point of view of Joan Garrison who wakes up after 30 years of being frozen for medical reasons. She feels trapped. She is just seeing life again for first time. We go on the journey through her awakening by following her perspective as she is being wheeled down the hallway.”
Frederick joined forces with the film director, Randal Kleiser, who has been on the forefront of experimenting with technology since featuring the first use of digital morphing in the film Flight of the Navigator (1986). When Kleiser filmed Red Riding Hood (2004) he broke new ground in digital cinematography through the extensive use of interactive virtual sets. Kleiser directed and wrote Defrost. Also on the creative team was John Pattyson, Executive Producer of Immersive Media (IM 360), the company that provided the filming equipment and post production.
Frederick, Kleiser and Pattyson all commented on the fact that Mark Zuckerberg bought the Oculus Technology (virtual reality goggles and sound system) for two billion dollars and will make the product available to the general public at the beginning of next year. In this way, Defrost will be brought into everyone’s homes.
“We are ready to produce twelve more episodes that follow the psychological drama of Joan Garrison’s family as they each deal with having back a mother, wife and grandmother, who still looks only 35,” Frederick revealed.
Frederick plays Beverly Perez, the daughter of Joan Garrison. She is the now married with a child and is the same age as her mother.
Frederick just completed a successful run of Train to Zakopane at the Edgemar Theater in Santa Monica and Dutchman at the National Black Theater Festival. The other cast members of Defrost are Academy Award nominated and Golden Globe winner, Bruce Davison who plays the husband Michael Garrison; The Blue Lagoon actor Chris Atkins who plays George Garrison, the son; film and television actor Carl Weathers who plays the doctor; Ethan Rains who plays the son-in-law, Brian Perez, acted in The Penis Chronicles, and Clinton Valencia who plays the grandson. This is his first film credit. Kelly DeSarla, who plays Joan Garrison, also co-starred in Train to Zakopane.
Defrost was screened at the SIGGRAPH conference and will be screened at the VRLA Expo August 29th at the LA Convention Center.
For more information about Defrost go to: www.tannafrederick.com and www.defrostvr.com
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Tanna Frederick can be seen this fall in Henry Jaglom’s romantic mystery “Ovation” starring opposite James Denton. The story is set in the backstage world of theatre where the cast struggles to keep their play afloat while they search for a murder suspect amongst themselves. She’ll also star as a single mother who returns to Iowa (Frederick’s hometown) to deal with her past in “Garner, Iowa” later this year. In the fall she’ll begin production on “Offside” written and directed by Frank D’Andrea, and “South of Hope Street” directed by Jane Spencer.
Frederick is a mainstay of the Los Angeles theatre community. In 2013, she won the LA Stage and Eddon awards for Best Actress for N. Richard Nash’s “The Rainmaker” at the Edgemar Theatre. The Los Angeles Times gave it Critics’ Choice and said, “The standout of this terrific cast is Tanna Frederick’s acerbically yearning Lizzie…It’s a transformation not to be missed.” She recently wrapped Jaglom’s original play “Train to Zakopané” also at the Edgemar. The play was based upon true events that occurred in the life of Jaglom’s father as he crossed Poland on a train in 1928 when anti-Semitism was rife in much of Europe. The Los Angeles Times said of her performance, “Tanna Frederick’s radiance and emotional transparency….won me over.”
Frederick’s performance in her first feature with Jaglom, “Hollywood Dreams,” earned her Best Actress at WorldFest Houston, Montana International Film Festival, Fargo Film Festival and the Wild Rose Film Festival. The film took Best Picture honors at the San Luis Obispo Film Festival and to Best Comedy at WorldFest Houston. She was named Method Fest’s “Performer to Watch” and has also received the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival’s “Maverick” Award.
Off-screen, Frederick has proved just as driven and talented. A fitness aficionado who runs daily, Frederick ranked 52nd out of 1,321 women in her division in the LA Marathon. She is a second-degree Tae Kwon Do blackbelt and a passionate surfer. She founded “Project Save Our Surf,” a non-profit that promotes clean oceans and water. She is also founder of the Iowa Film Festival, now in its’ seventh year and was named recipient of the University of Iowa’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2012.
