The project debuted last week at the creative festival Semi-Permanent, in Sydney. There, a massive virtual version of the cube was projected on a wall, with scenes from an experimental short film playing out simultaneously on all six sides. By twisting and turning a handheld cork cube, viewers could decide for themselves when and how to move from side to side and scene to scene. In a sense, they become the editors of the three-dimensional story.

The task of creating that story fell on Steve Ayson and Damien Shatford, the directors that Semi-Permanent and Google tapped for the job. In terms of filmmaking, it was a challenge as unique as the canvas itself. "The main challenge is that you're not just telling one story. You're telling six stories," Ayson says. Ultimately, they settled on a loosely connected series of sequences based on the seven main story types–comedy, tragedy, rags-to-riches and so on–with characters moving seamlessly between the different scenes of the cube's faces.