Zev Berman — Career, Projects & Selected History
Why Immersion?
The best stories, the ones that really moved me throughout my life, made me want to crawl inside them and live there. That’s my whole career in a nutshell: inviting audiences to live inside the story. I’ve always been a sucker for new technology if it can help me get there, especially while it still feels like magic and before anybody has quite figured out what to do with it.
I began in theater, moved into film, and eventually followed that fascination into interactive media, virtual reality, augmented reality, physical simulation, conversational AI and emerging interfaces. On paper, those can look like abrupt changes. They never felt that way to me. I kept following the same core interests: story, performance, presence, and the relationship between an experience and the person having it.
Technology expanded the palette. A film could surround an audience with image and sound. An interactive experience could respond to a choice. VR could place someone inside a world. Motion and haptics could involve the body. Conversational AI could allow a character to respond to what someone actually said. The tools changed, but the underlying question remained consistent: how do you make an audience stop merely observing a story and begin living inside it?
Theater
Zev Berman began his career in theater. While still in high school in Washington, D.C., he spent summers as a paid performer for the Capitol Hill Players funded through the District’s Arts DC program, eventually directing an adaptation of Frankenstein.
He studied English and Theater at Oberlin College and appeared in eleven faculty-directed productions, received an Irene Ryan acting nomination, and participated in master classes with Royal Shakespeare Company actors including Lisa Harrow and Patrick Stewart.
Film
After Oberlin, Berman moved to San Francisco and became involved in the Bay Area independent film community, finding early support through the Film Arts Foundation and the Bay Area Video Coalition. He ran the Motion Picture camera department at a local equipment rental house and worked professionally as a camera assistant on music videos and documentaries while making short films of his own. He was an intern on independent filmmaker Rob Nilsson’s film Chalk.
His early shorts included Eicere, Inside Out and Wicked. He subsequently entered the directing program at the American Film Institute, where he was one of six directors selected from a class of 35 to direct a thesis film in his second year.
That film was Angelmaker, a 26-minute period drama starring a young Elisabeth Moss as Little Turcott. The film was financed in part through Yale University’s Elizabeth and Ernest Shenkin Fellowship, awarded to Berman based on his first-year work. Angelmaker was a regional finalist in the Student Academy Awards, screened at AFI FEST and received a CINE Golden Eagle.
Writing in LA Weekly, critic Hazel-Dawn Dumpert described Angelmaker as “lushly photographed” and “impossible to forget.”
Berman’s collaboration with screenwriter Deborah Pryor began at AFI and eventually led to Berman’s first feature, Briar Patch, eventually released under the title Plain Dirty. Pryor’s original screenplay had won the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship.
Angelmaker
Synopsis
In the shadows of a deep wood, in shadows of the soul deeper still, live 13-year-old Little Turcott and her mother. To their door is dragged a girl named A.D., prone to fits and wracked by visions, left to be watched for the day. As Little Turcott leads A.D. through chores, she is both repelled and drawn to the maddening, inexplicable girl who seems to have dropped from another world. When A.D. realizes that she’s been brought to these women not to be watched, but to be murdered, she gives Little Turcott a vision of a marvelous “Elsewhere” and promises to take her there if she’s set free. Haunted by this vision, Little Turcott must find the courage to outwit her mother when the day is done.
Contemporary Review
“Perhaps one of the most audacious entries in the program is Zev Berman’s Angelmaker. Lushly photographed...and impossible to forget.” — Hazel-Dawn Dumpert, LA Weekly
Background
Angelmaker is a 26-minute short produced through the American Film Institute’s MFA program. The film marks the second collaboration between writer Deborah Pryor and director Zev Berman and stars a young Elisabeth Moss as Little Turcott. It played festivals including Slamdance, Mill Valley, AFI FEST, the Los Angeles International Short Film Festival and the Cleveland International Film Festival.
The film was funded in part through the Elizabeth and Ernest Shenkin Fellowship through Yale University, awarded to Berman based on his first-year directing work.
Grants & Awards
1998 Winner — CINE Golden Eagle Award
1998 Regional Finalist — Student Academy Awards
1997 Winner — Elizabeth & Ernest Shenkin Fellowship in Filmmaking
Festival Screenings
1999 Slamdance Film Festival
1998 Mill Valley Film Festival
1998 AFI International Film Festival
1998 Los Angeles International Short Film Festival 1998 Cleveland International Film Festival
Cast and Principal Crew
Beth Grant — Mrs. Turcott Elisabeth Moss — Little Turcott
Marnie Crossen — Jean
Colleen Kane — A.D.
Zev Berman — Director
Craig Rosen & Ryo Hayashi — Co-Producers Hiroki Miyano — Cinematographer
Deborah Pryor — Screenwriter Linda Berger — Production Designer Anna Boynton — Editor
About the Production
Script Development
Zev Berman and Deborah Pryor, the film’s director and writer, were introduced during their first year in the MFA program at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles. Sparked by a mutual affinity for dark and evocative Southern writers in the tradition of Flannery O’Connor and Carson McCullers, they began developing a story concept for Berman’s thesis film.
Pryor had the initial inspiration when she heard mention of an obscure calling that existed in medieval Europe: Angelmakers. “These were women who were paid to take on crippled or unwanted babies,” Pryor explained, “and ‘lose’ them for their mothers. I know it sounds creepy, but it did happen.” The grisly occupation evolved from wet nurses; a mother could be put to death for murdering a child, but if a wet nurse “lost” a baby, society seemed to turn a blind eye.
Using this kernel of an idea as a beginning, Pryor went to work on a first draft about a young Appalachian girl who learns the craft of Angelmakers and ultimately rejects the calling. Working closely, Berman and Pryor refined the script over several months and submitted the project to AFI. Berman was one of six directors selected from a class of 35 to direct a thesis film. Soon after, he was awarded the Shenkin Fellowship based on his first-year directing work.
Pre-production
Creating a believable turn-of-the-century Appalachia for Angelmaker was no easy task, particularly for a small group of Los Angeles graduate students working with a budget of roughly $50,000. Berman scoured California with cinematographer Hiroki Miyano in search of the right forest, covering parks and private estates from the giant redwoods of Kings Canyon to the hillsides of Muir Woods. Quite unexpectedly, the most authentic option proved to be twenty minutes from Hollywood in Franklin Canyon.
Berman felt that for the material to come alive, the film’s world had to be totally believable, from the faces of the actors, to the fit of the costumes, to the fetal skeletons that one character digs up at a key moment in the story.
“A story that evokes a profession as obscure as Angelmakers, coupled with a wild child character who sees visions might have pushed the film in a theatrical direction. I wanted the audience to believe everything they saw, so in the end they couldn’t just shrug off the story.”
Production designer Linda Berger signed on after having worked as an art director on Jurassic Park. She researched Appalachian lifestyles and architecture through studio archives, historical societies and early internet sources. The graduate production faced the daunting reality of building a freestanding turn-of-the- century Appalachian farmhouse. A studio construction coordinator eventually signed on and brought his tools and several regular union carpenters.
“We were so lucky,” Berman recalled. “We had the chance to work side by side with some top-notch professionals. They came in when they could and ultimately saved our bacon.”
Casting
“Casting a film is one of the key elements a director can really bring to a project,” Berman recalled. “I went to every source I could think of: The Academy Players Directory, Backstage and Dramalogue, local acting classes, and even high school teachers. Some of the smaller agencies responded. I had to sweet-talk agents and convince them to let their clients read the script, selling the project as an opportunity to work on terrific material.”
Of Elisabeth Moss, Berman recalled: “The cast couldn’t be better. Elisabeth Moss, who plays the lead, has amazing instincts as an actress. She’s been working since she was six, and has an uncanny ability to play to the camera. She wasn’t afraid to underplay the role. Sometimes it was just a flick of her eyes, and she captured the moment.”
Cinematography
Hiroki Miyano and Berman spent weeks conferring over ways to give Angelmaker its own unique look. They settled on exploring bleach bypass, a chemical technique that provides desaturated colors and rich blacks. Miyano was being mentored by Roger Deakins at the time, and Deakins took an interest in the project.
Miyano was inspired by the work of painter Georges de La Tour, whose dramatic scenes were often lit by a single candle flame. “It’s about being true to the light,” Miyano said. “We often lit with one light source in the frame, and then just let it fall off naturally.”
Berman and Miyano were also committed to filming exteriors under soft overcast skies. “We shot in a little box canyon,” Berman recalled, “where there were maybe two hours of usable soft light in the morning, and maybe two hours in the late afternoon just before sunset. I’m getting a headache just thinking about it.” Roger Deakins worked with the filmmakers on the desaturated bleach-bypass approach; the final result was eerie, beautiful and unsettling.
Post-production
The production showed a rough cut to David Stone, the Academy Award-winning sound editor of Bram Stoker’s Dracula. Stone enjoyed the rough cut and agreed to help the filmmakers in his spare time. “Special effects that didn’t seem so special suddenly took off,” Berman recalled. “It’s a testament to David and the power of sound. I’m happy that there are still professionals in Hollywood who want to give something back and are open to a project they can believe in—or better yet, have some fun with. Angelmaker gave us all a chance to do something a little bit different.”
Briar Patch / Plain Dirty
Project Description
Director Zev Berman and screenwriter Deborah Pryor began their collaboration at the American Film Institute, where Pryor wrote Berman’s thesis film Angelmaker. Berman went on to option Pryor’s screenplay Briar Patch, a winner of the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowship, and developed the script further. He shared the new draft with producer Lauren Moews, who signed on as producer; together, Moews and Berman secured independent financing and the film went into production with Berman directing.
The key cast was composed of Dominique Swain (Lolita, Face/Off), Henry Thomas (E.T., Gangs of New York), Arie Verveen (Caught, Sin City), Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark), James Urbaniak (Henry Fool), Debra Monk and Blake Lindsley.
The film played festivals internationally, receiving awards and nominations, before later distribution under the alternate title Plain Dirty. Surviving databases differ on release year and runtime; this archive preserves the production history while linking to current records below.
Synopsis
Zev Berman’s thriller Plain Dirty stars Dominique Swain as Inez Macbeth, a woman married to the volatile criminal Edgar (Henry Thomas). She has grown tired of their marriage and strays outside of her vows. Edgar finds out and proceeds to make her prisoner in her own home with the help of his associate, Flowers (Arie Verveen). Inez figures out a dangerous escape plan, but will she be able to get away before it is too late? — Perry Seibert, Rovi
Festival History / Awards
2002 — Best Narrative Feature, Indie Memphis
2002 — Gold Special Jury Award, Suspense/Thriller, WorldFest Houston 2003 — Finalist, Grand Jury Prize, Slamdance Film Festival
2003 — Prix SACD / Best Original Screenplay, Avignon Film Festival 2002 — Finalist, Land Grant Grand Prize, Taos Talking Pictures
Cast
Dominique Swain — Inez Macbeth Henry Thomas — Edgar Macbeth Arie Verveen — Flowers
James Urbaniak — Druden Hunt Karen Allen — Butcher Lee
Debra Monk — Officer Avon Blake Lindsley — Raeburn
Principal Crew
Zev Berman — Director
Deborah Pryor — Screenwriter Lauren Moews — Producer
Sam Froelich — Producer
Eric Strand — Editor
Hana Rusalova — Costume Designer Jack Cloud — Production Designer Nathan Barr — Composer
Scott Kevan — Cinematographer
Contemporary Reviews
“Excellent in every regard. A powerful story about love and violence. Director Zev Berman paints the rural south in dark, forceful strokes in the tradition of Faulkner. Small gestures and subtext compose a delicate
narrative, reminiscent of Clint Eastwood’s best work. Do not miss this amazing film.” — Bobby Kirk — Playback St. Louis
“Solid performances all around, and a sure hand with direction make Berman a talent to watch in the future.” — Rick Romancito — Arts & Entertainment, Taos News
“This is the type of movie where the less you know before you watch it, the more you’ll enjoy all its subtle little twists and turns.” — GoGo Magazine
“A dangerously literate southern gothic fable.” — Buzz McCain — DVD Exclusives
“Sexy, brutal, funny, well-paced, well written, and something truly mythic and magical: Kentucky-Freud
Gothic grandeur!” — Eric Kuersten — Acidemic
“This twisted tale works, thanks to a persuasive cast and strong characterizations. Director Zev Berman
imbues Deborah Pryor’s screenplay with a haunting sense of dread.” — Houston Chronicle Acidemic Review of Plain Dirty (aka Briar Patch)
By Eric Kuersten • c. 2004 • Acidemic.com
The original review is no longer online. A complete transcription survives in Berman’s production archive. Kuersten reads the film as a Southern Gothic, psychosexual fairy tale and discusses its female coming-of- age structure, Shakespearean echoes, archetypal imagery, performances, Nathan Barr’s score and Scott Kevan’s cinematography. He also connects the film back to Angelmaker and its grim fairy-tale atmosphere.
The following review of Plain Dirty appeared on Eric Kuersten's Acidemic around 2004. The original webpage is no longer online; this text survives in Berman's production archive.
Acidemic Review of Plain Dirty (aka Briar Patch)
By Erich Kuersten
From the box art you may be tempted to pass this one off as one of the endless Zalman King-style infidelity and revenge sex flicks that are the new version of the old drive inn filler. But this is good stuff, actually, something fans of Jane Campion’s The Piano will like better than either her Holy Smoke or In the Cut. Newcomer director Zev Berman and newcomer screenwriter Deborah Pryor have conjured up a mystical swamp environment that augments what amounts to nothing less than a genuine psychosexual feminist fairy tale, the type where the frog suitor of the imprisoned princess shows no signs of ever being a prince, but if she looks at her chains the right way they sparkle like jewels and a beautiful castle lies hidden in the dirt and squalor of her prison. Dominique Swain stars as Inez McBeth (yeah, there’s Shakespeare connotations), the desirable young bride of local loser Edgar (Henry Thomas, aka little Elliot from E.T.) whose friend the creepy Flowers (Arie Verveen) is infatuated with her, even stealing her flip flops for god knows what kinky purpose. Karen Allen is great as the “witch” who lives in a big house down the way, who predicts Inez’s true love will soon ride to her rescue. Inez assumes she means her pale, rich boy in town (James Urbaniak) who looks vaguely like a marionette just waiting for someone with the raw humanity of Inez to turn him into a human. What follows involves murder, desire, suspicion and double- crossing, but what makes it succeed is all that groovy archetypal mythic resonance, ala the female’s journey to adulthood, which one hardly finds in films these days, not since The Piano anyway. There’s lots of that good old southern fried gothic po’ poetical dialogue, and symbolic metaphors like blindness, chains, and headless chickens.
Thankfully, visionary directors and writers like Berman and Pryor are finally starting to realize these low budget sex pot indies can be used as more than just wastes of drunken late night cable viewers’ time. They take a typical swamp and cut off shorts exploitation set up ala Gator Bait, Poor White Trash, or
Mudhoney, and then go off the deep end with it, into Kentucky-Freud Gothic grandeur. There’s a great, scraping viola and cello score by Nathan Barr, and dark, steamy cinematography by Scott Keven, both of whom worked, along with Verveen, on that last great entry in the redneck genre, Cabin Fever (2002). Keven doesn’t waste any chance to capture muted swampy sunlight trying to break through the filthy windows of these muddy shacks. The performances are all wonderful, especially Verveen’s, who manages to be believable while being simultaneously dirty, poetic, sneaky, charming, and oh so creepy as he woos Inez with lines like: “I wanna see what you look like when you grow old. Is you gonna grow gray or what?” Swain’s untamed Lolita-like energy makes her a believable force of girl nature, running around in her cut off shorts (nowhere near as short as Daisy Duke’s, alas) and cut up, dirty legs, or a filthy summer frock. The big bow should probably go to Thomas though, as Edgar he manages to give one of the best abusive husband performances ever. His rage is shocking to himself, and deluded attempts to try and forgive or justify his own actions come off as false even to him, driving him further into a spiral of rage and self- hatred projected in all directions. Sexy, brutal, funny, well-paced, well written, and turned into something truly mythic and magical thanks to a great writing, moody score and cinematography, Plain Dirty is one of the reasons why taking risks on the straight to video shelves sometimes pays off. It did make the film festival rounds (premiering at Slamdance) with the artsier title of Briar Patch, but its distributor, Screen Media Ventures, obviously didn’t have much faith in it for widescreen release. Oh well, you should, and Jane Campion should take a lesson. The DVD includes an audio commentary track and the 26 minute short film made by the director and screenwriter prior to this, with a similar mood, locale, and grim fairy tale resonance (it’s also pretty great) called Angelmaker (1998). Let’s hope word gets around about this easy-to-dismiss-based-on-the-box-art gem, and that Berman and Pryor are able to continue their association for a long and richly textured while.
c. 2004 Acidemic.com
Editorial note: retain the full transcription in the master archive. Borderland
Roles / Project Summary
Zev Berman — Writer / Director / Creative Originator
Developed the initial concept and co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Poppen.
Played a key role in raising more than $5 million in financing and setting the project up with Lionsgate.
Directed the film starring Brian Presley, Jake Muxworthy, Rider Strong, Martha Higareda, Damián Alcázar, Sean Astin and Beto Cuevas.
Film released in theaters and across DVD, Blu-ray, cable and pay-per-view markets.
Directed the documentary Rituals de Sangre about the original crime for Lionsgate Blu-ray release and FearNet.
Synopsis
Three Texas college friends cross into Mexico for a final weekend before graduation and encounter a drug-running cult that practices ritual human sacrifice. The story was inspired by the 1989 Mark Kilroy / Adolfo Constanzo case on the Texas-Mexico border.
Project Origin
Berman’s fascination with the case began during a 1989 cross-country road trip with friends. While traveling in Mexico in a Volkswagen bus, he encountered armed Mexican officers who asked whether they were “Satánicos?” The exchange took place during the manhunt surrounding the Mark Kilroy murder investigation and stayed with him for years.
Berman developed Borderland from those events, co-wrote the screenplay with Eric Poppen and worked with producer Lauren Moews to secure financing. The production undertook an extensive border-region scout and shot principally in and around Tijuana, Mexico. Berman lived in Tijuana for more than three months during the production period.
The film used the crime story as a foundation for a broader story about fanatic belief, cultural collision and friendship under extreme pressure. Berman has described the Mexican police officer Ulises, played by Damián Alcázar, as the film’s moral center and hero.
Critical Reception
Joe Leydon — Variety
“Brainy and brutal!”
“A brutally suspenseful crime drama.”
“The performances—including Sean Astin’s nasty cast-against-type turn as a gringo employed by the drug ring—are everything they need to be for the pic to work on a visceral pulp level.”
“Berman cunningly keeps his aud on edge by opening with full-bore gore. As the pic proceeds, however, he relies heavily on more traditional methods to sustain tension and amp up anxiety, only occasionally resorting to in-your-face carnage before a genuinely exciting house-under-siege climax that owes more to Straw Dogs than any splatter pic.”
Dustin Putman — The Movie Boy
“Directed by Zev Berman with the palpable grit and grime of a film straight out of 1974, Borderland will be compared to Hostel and Turistas, but this more reality-based tale stands up confidently as its own entity. On-the-mark characterizations, a gripping slow-burn pace, and powerful acting...aid in making Borderland one of this year’s most effective genre efforts.”
“The director delivers a human story that on one side, paints a friendship pushed to the very limits of reason and on the other illustrates a cult leader’s god-like quest for power and the control such an individual wields over his followers.”
Tex Massacre — Bloody Disgusting
“The performances from the cast are exceptional.”
“In addition to Sean Astin’s career re-defining performance, the film features relative newcomer Brian Presley in an impressive showing.”
“The film mixes the dramatic aspects of a true crime story with elements indicative of modern horror cinema to great triumph.”
“The idea of how far you would go to protect your friends and your own life is at the forefront of what makes the movie so successful.”
Steve Biodrowski — Cinefantastique
“A dark, disturbing gem.”
“Borderland is thoroughly engrossing, building effectively toward a grueling climax. The sense of growing dread is almost palpable.”
“This approach is the film’s masterstroke, keeping the story convincing throughout, never sliding into comfortable Hollywood territory.”
“Its closest relative may be Wolf Creek...but in many ways Borderland is the better film, unburdened with a bad ending.”
Movie Cynics
“The film is directed quite stunningly by Zev Berman. If you can catch this at the theater, do yourself a favor and go see it.”
Scott Weinberg — Cinematical / SXSW
“A grim, gruesome and impressively well-mounted piece of genre filmmaking, and one that’s a whole lot more unsettling when you realize it was based on an actual massacre.”
“This is not a polished or glitzed-up piece of survival horror, but a dark and frequently powerful thriller.”
“Presley, Strong and Muxworthy make for an entirely believable trio... Toss in a great turn by Damián Alcázar as the worn-out cop, a disconcertingly vicious performance by Sean Astin and the stunningly beautiful face of Martha Higareda, and you’ve got a surprisingly excellent cast anchoring this creepy ship.”
“Berman balances the weight of the actual events with the desire to mount a simply effective horror story, and I think he pulls it off quite well.”
Darcie Stevens — Austin Chronicle
“Really: Who doesn’t love machete-toting Mexicans stalking frat boys at strip clubs?”
Cast
Brian Presley — Ed Martha Higareda — Valeria Jake Muxworthy — Henry Rider Strong — Phil Damián Alcázar — Ulises Sean Astin — Randall Marco Bacuzzi — Gustavo Roberto Sosa — Luis Humberto Busto — Mario José María Yazpik — Zoilo Francesca Guillén — Lupe Beto Cuevas — Santillan
Principal Crew
Zev Berman — Director / Screenwriter Eric Poppen — Screenwriter
Scott Kevan — Cinematographer
Tim Galvin — Production Designer Lauren Moews — Producer
Elisa Salinas — Producer George Furla — Producer Randall Emmett — Producer
Deborah Davis — Executive Producer Jeff Rice — Executive Producer
Keith Previte — Executive Producer
M. Dal Walton III — Executive Producer Steve Whitney — Executive Producer Susan Jackson — Executive Producer Vance J. Owen — Executive Producer Andrés Levin — Composer
Claudia Becker — Casting
Eric Strand — Editor
Gabriel Coll Barberis — Sound / Sound Designer Gregory Nicotero — Makeup Special Effects Janice Ginsberg — Music Supervision
Matthew Lessall — Casting
Monica Araiz — Costume Designer
Pachilu Moreno — Set Decorator
Ricardo Del Rio — First Assistant Director
Archived Digital Store / Rotten Tomatoes Snapshot
A surviving archived digital-store screenshot records Borderland with a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer of 100%, based on eight reviews: 8 Fresh, 0 Rotten, average rating 6.8/10.
The snapshot includes a Los Angeles Weekly excerpt by Luke Y. Thompson describing the film’s violence as harrowing because it is “played completely real.” It also shows an approximately four-out-of-five-star customer rating from 58 ratings and 13 customer reviews.
Selected customer review preserved in the snapshot: “This movie is shot very well with great acting. It’s so raw and true that it strikes a cord that only movies such as The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Silence of the Lambs would strike. You will be shocked at some points, covering your eyes at other times, and telling yourself ‘It’s Only A Movie’ until the credits roll.”
Another preserved customer review described it as “top-notch horror” and praised the acting, storyline, pacing and suspense, calling it one of the strongest entries in the After Dark series.
Interactive Media and Deluxe Digital Studios
After directing feature films, Berman moved increasingly into interactive media. At Deluxe Digital Studios he served in a progression of executive producer, account leadership and creative-director roles from 2008 through 2014, working with major studio clients including Warner Bros. and Universal.
His work centered on interactive entertainment products, connected media, front-end UI/UX and emerging multi-screen experiences. He drove the conception and production of novel network-connected features, games, documentaries, social-media experiences and consumer-facing interfaces for studio theatrical- marketing and home-entertainment divisions.
As account director for Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Berman grew the account by approximately $1 million in his first eight months. He also led product-design work around multi-platform streaming-media interfaces and helped launch interactive digital products across web, mobile and connected devices.
The significance of the period in Berman’s larger career was a change in the audience relationship: the viewer was no longer simply watching the media. The audience could touch it, navigate it, make choices and move among screens.
Awesome Rocketship / VenueVR / Phoenix One
In 2014 Berman co-founded Awesome Rocketship with partners including technologist Jim Stewartson. The company explored location-based virtual reality and haptics at a moment when consumer VR was still emerging.
Berman and his partners self-funded and developed a proprietary motion platform designed to synchronize pitch, roll and vertical movement with high-frequency vibration and directed air effects. The hardware became the basis for the VenueVR Gateway, a location-based VR pod intended for cinemas, malls, museums, hotels and other public venues.
For the original narrative experience Phoenix One, Berman served as writer, director and co-creator. He conceived and wrote the branching VR narrative, directed live-action performers, assembled an international design team and helped integrate the experience with the motion system. The work represented a shift from creating a world an audience watched to creating one that physically moved around and underneath them.
In 2016 AMD publicly partnered with Awesome Rocketship and unveiled the VenueVR Gateway at VRLA. Contemporary coverage described the system as a head-mounted display combined with a motion- controlled platform and an AMD-powered PC, with clusters envisioned for out-of-home entertainment.
Aerospace R&D and Embodied Avionics
Awesome Rocketship’s haptic prototype led to work with a major aerospace company. After client representatives experienced the demo, the team was engaged to prototype mission threads demonstrated future-avionics concepts.
Berman served as Lead Creative Producer on a custom immersive prototype combining cinematic VR, voice-activated interaction, holographic flight displays and synchronized physical motion. He interviewed career fighter pilots and reviewed human-factors research to understand how pilots process visual and spatial information under pressure. That work informed the volumetric data visualizations and the prioritization of information under cognitive load.
The prototype premiered at a national aerospace trade show and was subsequently installed in the client’s advanced R&D lab. The client’s identity and proprietary project details remain withheld under NDA.
Future Command Center
Working through StoryWorks360 under contract to an advanced prototyping and innovation firm, Berman served as Creative Producer, Lead Writer and Experience Design Lead on a live future command-center prototype for a top-tier aerospace client.
He worked with subject-matter experts to develop and script four near-future operational scenarios and helped concept the behavior and narrative function of the software systems displayed throughout the
environment. He storyboarded the scenarios so that interface behavior, dialogue and live performance worked together; as each story unfolded, the Common Operating Picture and supporting displays shifted focus to reveal information at the appropriate moment.
Berman cast and directed performers for the live demonstration and provided strategic creative guidance on how narrative, software and performance could communicate the client’s capabilities. The prototype remained in active use for several years and the broader effort contributed to a successful multi-billion- dollar defense pursuit. Client and program details remain under NDA.
NovaWurks / DARPA — Conformal Spacecraft Workshop
Through StoryWorks360, Berman served as Lead Producer on a DARPA-backed aerospace application developed with Cloudesign and NovaWurks. NovaWurks had developed a modular spacecraft architecture based on autonomous “satlets” that could be combined into larger on-orbit systems.
Berman led the user-centered product process: discovery, requirements, stakeholder interviews, user research, workflow mapping, interaction design, usability testing and delivery coordination. Working with NovaWurks engineers, the team translated the technical model into an interactive 3D satellite-building environment in which users could assemble spacecraft and evaluate constraints including attitude control, power, communications, thermal performance, mass, volume and launch-vehicle fit.
Berman designed and led focus-group studies with NASA engineers at NASA Ames. Cloudesign’s surviving case study independently records that the 3D iOS application for NovaWurks and DARPA debuted at NASA Ames for more than fifty engineers to test and validate the system.
Shanghai VR Shopping Experience
As Executive Producer and Creative Director through StoryWorks360, with execution by Ayzenberg, Berman led development of a VR lounge and shopping prototype for a major Chinese theater chain. Designed for theater lobbies, the experience allowed patrons to explore 360-degree trailers for upcoming films and purchase tickets inside VR. A functional front-end prototype was delivered, approved by the client and advanced into development. The client name remains withheld.
Talespin — Conversational AI and Immersive Training
Berman joined Talespin in 2018 as a Senior Solutions Lead and XR strategist, later serving in senior client-leadership and account roles through 2023. His work combined enterprise discovery, learning design, narrative systems, emerging technology and client strategy.
On a major enterprise training engagement, Berman proposed replacing a memorization-heavy learning model with realistic voice-driven simulation. Working with learning, design and technical teams, the program used speech recognition, natural-language processing, branching conversational logic and behavioral scoring to let trainees practice difficult customer interactions repeatedly and receive feedback.
The simulations ran on laptops and mobile devices as well as within the broader immersive-learning ecosystem, allowing learners to practice privately and repeatedly. Berman presented program results to senior client leadership and helped expand the engagement across additional business units. His current case-study record describes the account growing from approximately $800,000 to $2.4 million in seven months and securing multi-million-dollar follow-on investment.
During this period Talespin also participated in PwC’s large-scale study of VR soft-skills training. Berman publicly shared the study in 2020 as part of his work within Talespin’s enterprise immersive-learning practice.
StoryWorks360
Berman founded StoryWorks360 as a vehicle for work that crosses film, interactive media, immersive technology, physical installations, AI and experience design. The practice often operates at the point where a client has a complex idea or emerging technology but has not yet found the narrative, interface or experience structure that makes it understandable.
Across projects, Berman has worked as creative producer, director, writer, product strategist, account leader and experience designer. The work includes entertainment, enterprise training, aerospace R&D, physical simulation, interactive applications and emerging interfaces. A significant portion of the later- career work is confidential, which has historically made the public record thinner than the actual project history.
The Witness Project
The Witness Project is Berman’s current immersive nonfiction initiative: a physical kiosk designed to present first-person testimony with a sense of presence while avoiding headsets. The concept combines a Pepper’s Ghost-style display with spatial capture techniques including LiDAR and 3D Gaussian splatting, allowing visitors to encounter testimony as an embodied, navigable presence.
The project extends the question that has followed Berman from theater through film, VR and conversational AI: how can the distance between an audience and another person’s lived experience be reduced without confusing representation with reality? Witness applies that question to documentary testimony, memory and public-space installation.
External Sources and Live Artifacts
The links below are part of the archive. They connect this first-person record to surviving institutional, commercial, journalistic and collaborator sources. Some older artifacts have disappeared from the public web; those are identified in the relevant project sections above.
Zev Berman — personal portfolio — Canonical person-level portfolio and project archive. https://zev-berman.squarespace.com/
Phoenix One VR Narrative — Zev Berman — Native-text project page identifying Berman as writer, director and co-creator.
https://zev-berman.squarespace.com/phoenix-one-vr
StoryWorks360 — Case Studies — Current machine-readable case studies covering conversational AI, aerospace R&D, DARPA/NovaWurks, Borderland and Shanghai VR work.
https://www.storyworks360.com/case-studies
AFI FEST — Film Results — AFI FEST archive lists Angelmaker — Zev Berman. https://fest.afi.com/film-results/
The Washington Post — Soiree With the Sharks at the Sundance Fest — 1999 Park City artifact identifying Berman promoting Angelmaker at Slamdance.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1999/01/30/soiree-with-the-sharks-at-the-sundance-fest/ c4862e77-78e6-4c88-b5aa-5fc5962a4858/
IMDb — Zev Berman — Filmography connecting Angelmaker, Briar Patch and Borderland. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0075864/
IMDb — Briar Patch — Current film record for Briar Patch / Plain Dirty. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0220343/
Rotten Tomatoes — Briar Patch — Current film record and cast/crew page; useful alongside the archived historical snapshot.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/plain_dirty
MUBI — Plain Dirty / Briar Patch — Current film record identifying Berman as director. https://mubi.com/en/us/films/plain-dirty
Blu-ray.com — Plain Dirty — Release / technical record. https://www.blu-ray.com/Plain-Dirty/351295/
FilmMusic.com — Briar Patch — Film record connecting Berman and composer Nathan Barr. https://filmmusic.com/movie/briar-patch/
AFI Catalog — Borderland — Institutional record for director/co-writer, cast, crew, producers and distribution.
https://catalog.afi.com/Film/64168-BORDERLAND
SXSW — 2007 Film Festival Archive — Official festival archive listing Borderland. https://sxsw.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/2007_archive_-_final.pdf
Daily Dead — Looking Back at the Making of Borderland with Zev Berman — Long 2022 retrospective interview with Berman.
https://dailydead.com/indie-horror-month-2022-looking-back-at-the-making-of-borderland-with-director-co- writer-zev-berman/
MindFusion — Zev Berman, Writer/Director — Contemporary 2007 interview.
https://mindfusion.wordpress.com/2007/11/
InMag — 3 Q’s for Borderland Director Zev Berman — SXSW-era interview on the film’s genesis.
https://www.inmag.com/profiles/borderland2.html
Fandango — Borderland Cast & Crew — Commercial film record.
https://www.fandango.com/borderland-2007-104121/cast-and-crew
IMDb — Borderland Full Cast & Crew — Film database record identifying Berman as director and co- writer.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452592/fullcredits/
Horror Society — Burbank Fangoria Convention — Contemporary listing for the Borderland panel. https://www.horrorsociety.com/2007/04/30/burbank-fangoria-convention/
ShockYa — Fangoria Weekend of Horrors Details — Contemporary Borderland panel listing. https://www.shockya.com/news/2007/04/25/fangoria-weekend-of-horrors-details/
The Bedlam Files — Fangoria’s May 2007 Weekend of Horrors — Contemporary attendee account of the Borderland panel.
https://thebedlamfiles.com/commentary/fangorias-may-2007-weekend-of-horrors/
Eric D. Snider — 2007 SXSW Film Festival Diary — Contemporary SXSW diary mentioning Berman and Rider Strong.
https://www.ericdsnider.com/misc/eric-d-sniders-2007-sxsw-film-festival-diary/
Ain’t It Cool News — 2007 SXSW Film Festival Lineup — Contemporary festival listing for Borderland. https://legacy.aintitcool.com/node/31483
AMD — Radeon Pro Pipeline / Awesome Rocketship collaboration — Primary corporate announcement of AMD’s collaboration with Awesome Rocketship and VenueVR Gateway.
https://ir.amd.com/news-events/press-releases/detail/726/amd-details-radeontm-pro-pipeline-for- cinematic-vr-content-new-collaborations-to-bring-premium-vr-experiences-out-of-home
AMD — archived press-release PDF — Durable PDF copy of AMD’s 2016 announcement. https://d1io3yog0oux5.cloudfront.net/_1c004e3bd5336b6d2644d2c1e0b1c4f1/amd/news/
2016-10-14_AMD_Details_Radeon_TM_Pro_Pipeline_for_Cinematic_726.pdf
UploadVR — Awesome Rocketship / VenueVR Gateway — Independent contemporary coverage of AMD’s public reveal.
https://www.uploadvr.com/amd-reveals-bizarre-vr-pod-called-awesome-rocketship-vrla/
GamingGadgets — VenueVR Gateway — Contemporary international coverage.
https://gaminggadgets.io/venuevr-gateway-kurioses-cockpit-fuer-vr-abenteuer
Taibo — AMD / Awesome Rocketship VenueVR — Contemporary Chinese-language coverage.
https://www.taibo.cn/p/42936
Cloudesign — Case Studies — Collaborator record for NovaWurks / DARPA Conformal Spacecraft Workshop and related aerospace work.
https://cloudesigninc.com/case-studies
LinkedIn — Zev Berman post on PwC/Talespin VR soft-skills study — Contemporary public artifact placing Berman within Talespin’s enterprise VR soft-skills work.
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/zpberman_vr-soft-skills-training-study-activity-6681956269680680960- RtYo
LinkedIn — Zev Berman profile — Current professional profile; education section records one of six directors selected from 35 at AFI.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zpberman
SignalHire — Zev Berman professional chronology — Third-party structured chronology connecting StoryWorks360, Talespin, Awesome Rocketship and Deluxe; useful but not treated as a primary authority.
https://www.signalhire.com/profiles/zev-berman%27s-email/131571275
Archival Gaps and Preservation Notes
Acidemic / Eric Kuersten review of Plain Dirty — the original appears no longer live. The complete transcription should remain in the private/master archive; the public archive can preserve a rights-safe excerpt, summary and provenance unless republication permission is obtained.
Historical Rotten Tomatoes record for Briar Patch / Plain Dirty — an archival screenshot records an earlier critic profile that no longer appears in the same form online. Preserve the screenshot with native HTML explaining what it documents and, if known, when it was captured.
Other favorable contemporary Briar Patch reviews — Houston Chronicle, Playback St. Louis, Rick Romancito and others survive in Berman’s production/press archive even where the original web pages do not. Preserve publication, critic, date where known, and short excerpts.
Deluxe 2008–2014 — independent public documentation tying Berman personally to individual interactive projects remains comparatively sparse. First-person project descriptions should distinguish documented client work from projects whose details cannot be independently verified.
Aerospace / R&D — some project evidence survives through collaborators and StoryWorks360, while client identities and proprietary details remain under NDA.
Talespin 2018–2023 — public Talespin material is abundant, but project-level attribution to individual employees is uneven. Preserve descriptions Berman is permitted to disclose and connect them to surviving company/client artifacts where possible.