Eye For Film >> Movies >> Songbird (2018) Film Review
Among the VR experiences available at this year's Evia Project was Songbird. The animation, directed by Lucy Greenwell and produced as part of The Guardian's Virtual Reality Studio, its chief selling point is, paradoxically given that its a 360-degree experience, its soundscap
The short asks us to step into the forests of Hawaii's Kauaʻi in 1984 with Dr Jim Jacobi, an ornithologist hoping for a glimpse of the last remaining ʻōʻō (pronounced "oh-oh"), a honeyeater pushed to extinction by deforestation and predators. He tells the story of the encounter, which includes the bird's distinctive song. It's a compellingly told story, although the animation doesn't really add as much as it might. While Uri and Michelle Kranot's hand drawn work is both detailed and skilled, an artist's impression of the bird seems a bit of a poor substitute for a glimpse of the real thing, in this context.
The biggest let down, however, is that as a 360-degree experience, it is very front-focused, not exploiting the 'in the round' possibilities offered by VR as it should. Jacobi is a great guide, however, luring us into the cloud forest with him and conveying the mix of emotions he felt as he realised what he had captured on his recorder. A poignant story but one that could have achieved as much as a podcast as it does in this visual format.
Reviewed on: 29 Jun 2026
