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Google's immersive Spotlight Stories arrive on the iPhone and iPad

Google's immersive Spotlight Stories arrive on the iPhone and iPad

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Google has been experimenting with how phones and tablets can be used for storytelling, and today those experiments are making the jump from Android to iOS. Google's Spotlight Stories app is now available for the iPhone and iPad, bringing along all four of its experimental short films and animations. That includes the short animation Duet, by legendary animator Glen Keane, and the short film Help, which was directed by the guy behind over half of the Fast & Furious films.

These shorts all allow viewers to look around inside of their worlds, rather than locking them into a camera's single point of view. It's a basic way of exploring new storytelling methods for now, but it's still a pretty wonderful initiative to see Google get behind. And theoretically, it'll get much more interesting as filmmakers figure out new ways to make movies interactive. The Spotlight Stories app began launching widely on Android in May, after initially being locked to Motorola devices. Google also plans on bringing the shorts to YouTube.