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BUSINESS
STARTUPS
Text by JESS BAULDRY
Photography by MAISON MODERNE
BREAKING THROUGH THE FOURTH WALL An international couple and their friend have created a part-time business making 3D in motion films.
WHAT IS 3D VIDEO? 3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception, adding a third dimension. The first 3D film shown to a public audience, The Power of Love, premiered in the US in 1922. 3D experienced a golden era in the 1950s, before making a resurgence in the 1980s.
L
ike any good startup, Vera Nova started out as a problem that needed solving. The company was founded by couple Linda Eagan and Andrea Lazzaroni with friend Richard Lannoy in 2016. At the time, Lazzaroni had been buying a flat but didn’t have time to visit the properties because of the demands of his job. “I said, ‘wouldn’t it be great to get a real sense of the property without being there?’” Eagan recalls of the eureka moment that led to the creation of a 3D in motion filming company. “Richard is our other partner and the IT brains. He knew about this technology and said he thought it was going to be very popular in future. It might be good to start now.”
“WE CAN APPLY IT TO EVERY THING IF THE PERSON IN FRONT OF YOU HAS ENOUGH IMAGINATION AND PROFESSIONAL COURAGE TO TRY.” ANDREA LAZZARONI
The die was cast: the entrepreneurs invested in a 360° camera, bought a drone and fashioned a remote-controlled mobile device, dubbed the Panzer in a nod to Lazzaroni’s love of tanks. “For us, what was most obvious when we started was real estate,” he said, explaining that the trio had filmed at impressive country estates in France. But they realised there were many more possible applications, for example as a marketing tool, for engaging health and safety videos, and events. They even hope to film a wedding in 3D so that friends and relatives abroad can watch the happy occasion on 3D goggles as if they were there. “We can apply it to everything if the person in February 2018
3D VISION Linda Eagan from the UK and her partner Andrea Lazzaroni from Italy are two of the cofounders who set up Vera Nova
front of you has enough imagination and professional courage to try,” Lazzaroni explained. While filming and sewing all of the angle footage together for editing takes a considerable amount of time, a large part of the team’s work involves convincing people of the technology. “My job is getting the word out, talking to people, explaining it, which is what I love doing anyway,” said Eagan. Lazzaroni, meanwhile, takes care of the logistics and administration. “In the past year, the company has filmed the interior of
a bank in Luxembourg, a hotel and spa, and a chocolate factory, among other things.” They are clearly enjoying the joint venture, which is helped by the fact they have full or part-time employment elsewhere, with Eagan working three days a week at the International School of Luxembourg. “We’re lucky we can do both,” she said. “We work from a home office. It was all self-funded and we’re not losing any money. We don’t have anything in storage or anything that’s not selling.” icon_website www.veranova.lu