Issue 68  1st July 2016

4 Lessons VR and 360 Video Filmmakers Can Learn From the Theater

Film and television might seem like natural reference points for VR storytelling but, as this article reminds us, there’s a whole lot to be learned from theatre. For example, all action on the stage is important and within the audience’s field of view. Because of this, theatre has a slower pace than film since it allows the audience to take in much more of the stage.

VR maker Skye Von's advice to VR storytellers is to purge their inner filmmaker and take a more theatrical approach. She suggests a slower pace where VR writers think beyond a single character. And, finally, she asks VR makers to trust their audience to find the story, something she acknowledges might be difficult for aspiring film auteurs.

The struggle to adapt storytelling for virtual reality

It’s clear from recent news that in in terms of evolving VR, we already have the will, the investment and the technology. Next up, inevitably, is the content. As with every new experience, people turn to legacy media to see what can or can’t be used in the new form. VR is no different.

Production Designer Robert Stromberg (Boardwalk Empire, Alice in Wonderland) talks about where VR intersects with legacy media and some of the logistical and experiential challenges of creating believable VR worlds.

One of the biggest things I learned from The Martian was that the brain was so tuned in that you had to make sure the horizon was accurate. Otherwise your mind tells you something's wrong.

HTC announces VR venture capital alliance with $10 billion in ‘deployable capital’

HTC leads an attention grabbing business alliance that brings together 28 virtual reality venture capital firms and $10 billion of "deployable capital." What they've labeled as the VRVCA will meet six times a year in offices in both Beijing and San Francisco.

This news might be concerning to Magic Leap, infamously known as the ultra-secretive leaders in MR, considering that this massive grab bag of VC money will likely increase accessibility into a space that is extremely capital intensive to work in.

Individuals and firms working on VR, AR, and MR technology can apply now online. We'll leave the link here for any of our readers who are getting some ideas to the tune of $10 billion. vrvca.com

Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman talks VR, storytelling, and tickling ghosts

In this entertaining article, Ivan Reitman, director of Ghostbusters, has a candid interview with those over at The Verge, on site of the opening of the Ghostbusters: Dimension VR experience in Times Square earlier this week.

Reitman offers very valuable insight, from that of a story creator rather than a technologist, on where he believes story telling and movies are going with the increasing development of VR. He also likens the stage VR is in now to the early stages of cellular phones when you had to carry them around with the battery in a suitcase.

I think it’s reminiscent of the early silent experimental films, where people would just watch people sort of sitting in a chair, or walking, and it was so amazing to see life recreated on the wall, or on a screen, that that was enough. And then after a while it wasn’t enough, you know you needed something that was more, emotionally.