I Do. 

People’s Park in People’s Square (人民广场), Shanghai, is a place where every weekend hundreds of parents and grandparents come to visit the Marriage Market filled to the brim with people’s profiles printed on posters and hung on stands or umbrellas, unironically trying to find the perfect match for their “little ancestors”*. It is not uncommon for the children involved to be completely unaware of their parents’ participation in such an event and only rarely do such people come in person to look for their potential other half themselves.

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Among many of the listed features, those that play the biggest role in the decision-making process range from the age (usually from 25-36 years of age), education, occupation, income and assets, date and time of birth (used for Chinese birth chart and calculations of compatibility), height to one’s face and character. 

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I Do. is a unique immersive VR experience that takes you right into the middle of it all and lets you experience first-hand the authentic exchange between the “buyers” and “sellers”.

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Created as a collaboration with fellow NYU Shanghai students Ben Tablada (IMB & Fashion Studies) and Molly He (ICS & IMA) in Fall 2019 for the course VR/AR Fundamentals with professor Michael Naimark.

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*“Little ancestor” or “little emperor” are used to describe children in the family

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Skills used: camera Insta 360 2 + software, stitching & 360° video editing in Premiere Pro, Oculus Go/ Quest

Course: VR/AR Fundamentals

Production length:1 month recording (3 weeks of editing)