Google hits the stage on Mother's Day with the release of a YouTube video titled "Seeds" that shows the unfailing love and connection between a mother and a son as captured by, what else, its controversial in-your-face wearable device Google Glass.
Aneesh Chaganty, who wore the Glass over the course of the shoot, directed the 2:30-minute film. It was produced by Sev Ohanian and was uploaded on YouTube on May 8.
"This film, shot entirely on Glass, was created by alumni and students from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts as part of the Glass Creative Collective. It's our way of saying "Thank you, Mom,"" the video description states.
The Collective project is supported by Google and is providing funds to Glass-based filmmaking in the country, such as Chaganty's Mother's Day production. Chaganty got his Google Glass in February.
The film was shot in 10 days as Chaganty takes the road to home starting from Los Angeles, San Francisco, to Tokyo, and finally to India, where his mom resides. He is seen on the film taking the plane, taxi and train, among other forms of transportation, to get home. For the two-week long production, he was said to have worn the same clothes and a wedding ring.
"It was the first introduction to acting I've ever had," Chaganty says to Mashable.
Since its inception, the Google Glass device has been receiving both good and bad impressions from the public. There were reported cases of Glass users being ticketed, mugged, robbed, banned from some places and even called "Glassholes."
One of the primary concerns raised by those who question the intention of the wearable device is privacy -- and this film's privacy included.
"We made it a very clear point to never show...if someone was not aware that I was shooting, we would never show their full face. In fact there's one part we blurred," Chaganty explains.
He reveals that the film used both real individuals and actors. For instance, the woman acting as his mother in the film is actually a popular Indian actress named Madhumani Palla.
Though there's a touch of fiction in the story, the theme has a real-life connection to Chaganty whose parents were both Indian immigrants. After finishing the film, Chaganty gave it to his mother, who was in India during the filming, as his pre-Mother's Day present.
Other short films Chaganty directed were "The Sound of Evanescence" in 2008, "Alibi" in 2011 and "Monsters" in 2012. He is planning to shoot another film using the Google Glass wearable device and another feature again with Ohanian. As of this writing, the "Seeds" film has over one million views.
Watch the video here:
