【1992 Archives】

Google has released its first VR Doodle992 Archives honouring legendary French film director and élièillusionist Georges Méliès.

The interactive, 360° Doodle, or more accurately, short film, can be viewed on mobile, desktop, or through VR headsets including Google's own Cardboard or Daydream, and it's available worldwide.

SEE ALSO: Oprah and Laverne Cox read Maya Angelou poem in stunning Google Doodle

Created in collaboration with Google Spotlight Stories, Google Arts and Culture, and Cinémathèque Française, the Doodle coincides with the original release date of Méliès' iconic 1912 work À la conquête du pôle (The Conquest of the Pole).

You can give it a whirl in VR by downloading the Google Spotlight Stories app on Google Play or in the App Store, or if you don't have a headset, you can watch it below in 360° via YouTube, or in your browser.

Paying tribute to Méliès' romantic adventure style, the silent film, dubbed Back to the Moon, follows a lovelorn illusionist, besotted with a bold queen of hearts, who is kidnapped by a evil dude, of course. There's a lovely tribute to Méliès' 1902 iconic adventure film Le Voyage dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon)to end the film, and of course, it's referenced in the title.

Within the film, developers used direct references to Méliès' groundbreaking film experiments, the originals of which you can see on Google. Doodle producers Nexus Studios, with project art lead Hélène Leroux and co-director Fx Goby, wanted to pay homage to a handful of these tricks.

Mashable Trend Report Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means. Sign up for Mashable’s weekly Trend Report newsletter. By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

"Méliès brought magic to filmmaking through dozens of tricks and illusions," said Leroux in a statement. "What better way to pay homage to this then by using one of the most innovative and immersive tools we have for storytelling today: Virtual reality!"

"[We] wanted to highlight several tricks Méliès pioneered while also transporting the viewer into a magical world and story."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

During Méliès’ time, filming in colour wasn't yet an option, so Leroux and her team purposely used a dominant colour in each scene.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

The queen of hearts character is even a reference to actress Jehanne D’Alcy, who starred in some of Méliès’ films and would later become his wife.

Laurent Manonni, director of heritage at the Cinémathèque Française, a project partner, said in a statement for Google that Méliès' "revolutionary" work sparked the beginnings of the special effects used in film today.

"In a time when cinematography was nascent and almost exclusively documentary-style, Méliès single handedly opened the doors of the dream, the magic, and the fiction," he said.

If you're super keen, here's a look behind the scenes of the Doodle's making, with plenty of sketches, film clips and early development:

---

Featured Video For You

---

---

• Digital Culture
• Tech
• Social Good
• Deals
• Shopping
• Life
• Science
• Games

• The State of PC Gaming in 2016
• Americans are eating less beef. Here's why that matters for climate change
• Adele freaks out mid
• Elizabeth Warren is Team Baby Yoda, duh
• Trump tells '60 Minutes' that climate change will 'change back again'
• India's biggest online retailer is acquiring eBay's India business, report says
• Koalas don't like water but they're being 'driven to drink' by climate change
• Buy the latest iPhone, get $700 off a second one with Verizon’s 2020 smartphone deal
• Asus VivoWatch 6 AERO measures blood pressure and ECG
• International Olympic Committee prohibits kneeling, hand gestures

• Atlanta could beat the odds to nab Amazon's HQ2, according to this gambling site
• Amazon Fire TV 4K (2017) review: Serious HDR streaming power for $70
• Amazon's Cloud Cam security camera plays nice with Alexa
• The Dodgers just won the hottest World Series game in history
• Bitcoin Gold is the latest Bitcoin clone
• Samsung and Apple are about to revisit their patent trial
• Footballer reacts perfectly after cup of beer is thrown at his teammate
• Matt Damon admits to knowing about Weinstein's sexual harassment for decades
• Amazon Wine is shutting down
• Stranger Things Season 2 was probably inspired by these movie classics

• Things Intel Needs to Fix
• Turns out, that viral website where kittens attack Trump may have trolled us all
• Netflix's 'AJ and the Queen' is an intimate portrait of RuPaul: Review
• Turns out, that viral website where kittens attack Trump may have trolled us all
• Weather app glitch makes it look like hell is basically freezing over
• People can't get over this photo of Republican dudes who want to cut maternity care
• Lizzo lends a hand packing hampers for people affected by Australia's bushfire crisis
• Russian hackers are still going to be a huge problem for 2020 elections
• 'The Last of Us' Season 2, episode 3's opening credits has a heartbreaking change
• Lime lays off dozens and pulls e

• Netherlands vs. Spain 2025 livestream: Watch UEFA Nations League for free
• Streaming service Quibi will launch with more than 175 new shows
• Ring admits its employees tried to access customers' private video
• 2020 winter theater preview: Armie Hammer, Bobby Cannavale, and more
• Big-League Bluster
• Scammers are trying to fool people into thinking they've been drafted
• International Olympic Committee prohibits kneeling, hand gestures
• Prince Charles posts rare video message to Australians affected by bushfire crisis
• Astronomers saw one galaxy impale another. The damage was an eye
• Honey browser extension was a security risk during the holiday season, says Amazon