Everywhere you look these days, somebody seems to be releasing new content or new devices on which to experience Virtual Reality.
Now anybody from the owners of a PS4 to a cheap android phone with an onboard gyroscope can put themselves inside thousands of titles, from rollercoaster rides to special segments from films like the Canadian producer Minds Eye Entertainment's upcoming release "The Recall".
For me, story telling onscreen has always been about directing the viewer's attention in a particular direction, doling out what I want them to see instead of what they might notice from turning away to look around at what or who else might be in the playing space.
The economic restrictions placed on shooting a 360 degree environment also need to be considered. Where do you hide the crew and equipment? How much extra time and money does it cost to dress an entire room instead of the corner where most of the action takes place?
That's not to say entire VR dramas and comedies aren't on the horizon, I'm just suspecting that like 3D in the 1950's, it might be a passing fad until the surrounding technologies or our understanding of their potentials improve.
No doubt porn and horror will find a place. They always do. But I'm thinking that the real power of VR lies in news, sports and documentary.
News could have put you in the middle of the Hamburg G20 Riots this week to get a fuller perspective on that. Sports would have let me experience my beloved Saskatchewan Roughriders new stadium amid their rabid thousands known collectively as the "13th Man".
But for controlled story telling that fully takes you into a world, VR might really boost interest in documentaries the most.
Recently, Academy Award winning director Kathryn Bigelow put together a team of VR veterans and transported them to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to shoot a National Geographic doc on the 100 Rangers who protect elephants in Garamba National Park from ivory poachers.
It's an astonishing piece of work which should do a lot to help you understand our future as well as...
Enjoy your Sunday...
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