VR – will it be DOA just like stereo 3D ?

[Michael Jacobson]

That is a remarkably clever bit of kit. It takes a lot of the burden out of VR by reprojection. But more importantly it addresses the biggest issue with PC VR – the social aspect. Joining the inside and outside world on the sofa. That will drive a lot of consumers to a technically inferior but affordable VR setup for their own home. That is the difference between enthusiast VR and mainstream VR. Mainstream likes their sofas!

[Gary Huff]

[Ricardo Marty] “Now imagine with this camera on te head of the prime actor.. An experience never before felt”

Which doesn’t work if you know that you can simply turn your head around and see the crew, including the safety units and everything needed to ensure that no one gets injured. Unless you’re planning to paint all that out.

Otherwise you’re talking about locking the viewpoint, which then turns the goggles into simply a virtual bigscreen like those devices you see advertised in Skymall.

[Mark Raudonis]

Here’s my perspective about why “Classic Hollywood” storytellers are going to be less than enthusiastic about VR. Number one: Director’s of Photography: No chance to be a hero here. “Great Cinematography?” Not so much. Framing: Irrelevant. Lighting? Ah… loved the way they hid the practicals.

Editors: Not much input here. Loved the way they cut from WS to WS.

Directors: More like a theater director (Stage). No much of a chance to flex their visual muscles here. More like herding cats than finely choreographed performances.

You may disagree with me, but because VR downplays the contribution of these classic Hollywood creative positions, it’s my opinion that ultimately, it will NOT be embraced by Hollywood storytellers. Therefore, the success of this new format will rise and fall on the influence, acceptance, and creativity of the gaming world.

Just my thoughts.

[Tim Wilson]

[Mark Raudonis] “…because VR downplays the contribution of these classic Hollywood creative positions, it’s my opinion that ultimately, it will NOT be embraced by Hollywood storytellers. Therefore, the success of this new format will rise and fall on the influence, acceptance, and creativity of the gaming world.”

I agree with you completely on why Hollywood won’t adopt it for major storytelling, but I don’t think gaming will have the last word. I’m looking at how powerfully it’s being used for news and (VERY) short-form documentary and thinking that anything you can do in a couple of minutes is within reach. Maybe even narrative…but the more time I spend with it, the less I think so.

My additional reason for agreeing with you that movies are pretty much a no-go is the whole hot media/cool media split that Marshall McLuhan laid out in 1964, aka more recently, “lean forward/lean back.”

We watch movies, whether in theaters, living rooms, beds, or buses, to say, “Entertain me.” We lean back.

VR only works if you physically move something –your head, your hands, both, maybe even walk around. You might even be expected to pick stuff up. You lean in.

That obviously plays into gaming. I’m just saying not ONLY gaming…but most definitely NOT movies.

And to address folks further upthread, that doesn’t make it not real. 🙂 That just makes it its own thing, which is already increasingly being monetized, which makes it as real as it needs to be.

[Todd Terry]

I generally roll my eyes a little quietly to myself when someone chimes in out of the blue in an old thread… but now I’m going to be that guy.

I’ll preface this by saying that I’m one of those cranky oldschool guys that has a hard time being convinced about new stuff… heck, the fridge at work is still full of 35mm filmstock (not that we’ve used any in a while). And I like a few other people can’t really stand 3D… give me 2D any day.

BUT….

I just finished directing a corporate project for a ginormous multinational company that uses VR in industrial applications, where users can see and walk through and interact with virtual versions of factories, plants, ships, industrial complexes, etc. Their applications specifically use the Microsoft HoloLens (which is the slightly lighter headgear) and the Daqri (which is the full bigass helmet). I’m not overly-impressed often, but the first time I put the gear on my own noggin and saw (and could walk around) objects in the room that weren’t really there (but sure looked like they were… like they really really were), it was indeed a very trippy experience.

I have a feeling that many opinions on this will change once people have to opportunity to actually don the really high-end gear and see it in action. Although I have to admit, I do hate wearing 3D glasses… and putting on the HoloLens headgear or Daqri helmet was like that 10x. Hard to envision a way around that, though.

How will this all relate to our business…. who knows? But it will be interesting.

T2

__________________________________
Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com

[Walter Soyka]

HoloLens is stunning. You can check out their website, but you’re right on that you have to try it to see what it’s all about:
https://www.microsoft.com/microsoft-hololens/en-us

HoloLens is also augmented reality (AR) — technically related to VR, but very different from a creative perspective.

Walter Soyka
Designer & Mad Scientist at Keen Live [link]
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
@keenlive   |   RenderBreak [blog]   |   Profile [LinkedIn]