This video is presented in Virtual Reality.
Be sure to watch with the YouTube Mobile App, Google Cardboard, or any compatible VR viewing
device, or things will look a little wonky.
Hi!
Pardon the 3D avatar - this was the only way that I could make this video work.
Let’s talk about the past, present, and future of Virtual Reality entertainment.
Consumer VR has come a long way since the early days of the Nintendo Virtual Boy.
Sure, the general idea existed before even then, but when the Virtual Boy Released in
1995, it was the first real mass-market major gaming console capable of displaying stereoscopic
3D graphics.
Back then, the technology was limited to a red monochrome display, using a parallax effect
to create the illusion of depth.
It was a highly sophisticated technology at the time, but nowadays improvements in 360
degree display have become ubiquitous.
Companies like Oculus, Valve, and even Google are investing millions, and even billions
of dollars into the next evolution of the technology, and the more that VR platforms
become democratized, the more independent creators, including myself, are jumping at
the chance to play in the sandbox.
But VR, like all other developing platforms, is experiencing growing pains.
I’ve created some Virtual Reality content - on my YouTube channel, for third-party developers,
and I’ve even had my work featured in a major South Korean festival in 2016.
I was one of the early adopters of the technology when it came to YouTube, but, despite the
fact that I believe 360-degree video has great potential, there are plenty of things that
continue to hold it back.
Today, I’m going to share 3 major beefs I have with VR as a storytelling device.
The first is less an issue with the medium, and more a meta issue with the current VR
industry.
There are tons of companies out there vying to be the go-to VR viewing platform, but very
few of them seem concerned with actually providing worthwhile VR content.
This has played a large part in the current struggles of the medium.
After all, imagine it in terms of the traditional film experience!
Why pour billions of dollars into building movie theaters, but invest almost NOTHING
into producing actual movies?
By the same token, as a filmmaker, I REALLY wish companies would stop focusing so much
on developing VR platforms, and start focusing MORE on developing VR programming.
The internet is FULL of Virtual Reality demos showing off the technology possible, but legitimate,
long-form stories told through the medium are hard to come by.
And the truth is, as it stands right now, there just aren’t a lot of stories being
told through 360 degree video.
The stories that ARE being told are often relegated to obscure industry-specific venues.
One of the reasons that the few VR films out there seem to exist mainly as art pieces at
galleries or film festivals is simply because nobody is developing these films to be viewed
or screened to a mass market audience.
Don’t get me wrong - documentaries are a great way to use VR filmmaking - it allows
the viewer to see things from a first person perspective - something they can't get from
traditional filmmaking - but the medium will NEVER find major success until stories that
you might find in a more traditional setting are developed with this new technology in
mind.
VR films will never be accepted by mainstream audiences until VR films are marketed to mainstream
audiences.
But this is hard to do when you consider some of the challenges the medium brings with it.
For instance, beef #2, the ‘Point of View’ Problem.
Obviously the defining feature of Virtual Reality is the ability to become totally immersed
in the scene.
If you want the viewer to feel cramped, you can make it happen simply by putting them
in a cave.
If you want them to feel awe, you can make it happen by putting them on a mountain top.
If you want them to feel like they’re falling, you can make it happen by dropping them from
the sky, Look out!
Sorry, dumb joke… you get the point though, right?
By putting the viewer into the very center of the action, they can feel totally immersed,
and are naturally encouraged to explore the scene around them.
The only PROBLEM is, in a linear form of narration like film, you want the viewer to focus on
a specific thing at a specific time.
When you go to a movie theater to watch the latest blockbuster flick, the audience is
all looking at the same screen, and taking in the same image.
During the film, the director makes specific choices in lighting, framing, and editing,
cutting a specific way to show you a precise moment.
A precise angle.
A precise piece of information so that they can continually unfold the tale.
But in a 360 degree environment, you really don't have any control over what the audience
members choose to look at, and it's incredibly difficult to channel the viewer's attention
to a specific direction.
I mean, there are several workarounds to this, but if you have to keep using visual cues
to direct their eyes to a certain spot, then what's the point of even having the total
environment available to look at in the first place?
And what if they miss those visual cues and fail to see an important bit of information
because they just happened to, y'know, look away from where the director wanted them to
look?
You might think such a worry is overblown, but consider the fact that that there's a
dinosaur right behind you, and you're likely only just now noticing it because I'm telling
you.
(roar)
It’s a whole new paradigm of storytelling, and it remains to be seen whether or not traditional
narrative structures can work in such a setting.
Lastly, consider the problem of PRODUCING the content altogether, in what we'll call
the Technological Entry Barrier
There are two main ways to create a VR film - either by capturing a panorama in live action,
or by employing computer animation in a 3D environment.
Both have pros and cons.
If you’re looking for the best overall image quality, something that's future-proofed,
3D animation provides you with an ample amount of resolution, and the ability to perfect
every single angle of your scene.
BUT, 3D animation takes a long time to make, and as any animator will tell you, a LOT of
cheating goes on even when animating a traditional movie.
Specific camera angles are chosen to cut down the necessary animations needed, and you can
hide a multitude of unpolished work through editing, but a total 360 degree environment
means you’ll need to have every inch of the scene animated to perfection.
It's a tall order.
So, maybe you’ll instead elect to save time by shooting everything live action.
But again, it’s hard enough to direct a scene when you’re allowed to sit right behind
the camera.
If you’ve got to hide from it completely so that you can record a complete surrounding,
directing the picture become THAT much more difficult.
And, unless you want to manually stitch a ton of angles together with traditional cameras
(which is it’s own headache), the available options for VR capturing devices is extremely
small.
The affordable prosumer options have terrible image quality, and the camera models that
can pass for professional use cost WAAAY more than most folks are willing to invest in an
unproven medium.
Not to mention the fact that VR headsets for the end user are pretty expensive, and require
a big chunk of change to own, themselves.
ALL of these contributing factors are a large part of why you just haven’t seen very many
quality VR movies.
In truth, VR can probably find its BEST use in interactive, real time, video game environments.
But here’s the rub - many gaming households have simply refused to adopt VR as an extension
of the consoles they’re currently using.
My thoughts?
VR does have a place in entertainment.
It could be a WELCOME addition to failing arcades across the country looking to entice
customers back to their establishments.
Why more arcades haven’t invested in immersive, co-op Virtual Reality party games is beyond
me.
It seems like the perfect match.
The truth is, I’d LOVE to create more VR content.
I really would!
But until some of these more common hurdles are able to cleared, I guess I’ll be limited
to a flat screen.
Special thanks to this video's sponsor, Dashlane.
Isn’t it time that YOU got secure?
Dashlane protects your online accounts by providing a tool that generates strong passwords.
It stores them in memory, and autofills on whatever site you want, across all of your
devices.
Their premium version provides Dark Web Monitoring.
You can keep an eye on up to five email accounts and they’ll alert you if any personal info
is found on the dark web.
This powerful service scans more than 12 billion records from hacks and data breaches, with
almost a million new records added every day.
You can use Dashlane, and even try Premium for FREE with THIS special offer.
Follow the link in the description to get set up.
Go to Dashlane.com/austinmcconnell and you can try premium for a whole month.
Wanna stick with it after that?
Then use the promo code austinmcconnell at checkout for 10% off.