Avatar

An Interesting Article on VR Films (Off-Topic)

by Ragashingo ⌂, Official DBO Cryptarch, Monday, February 08, 2016, 12:07 (2999 days ago)

Saw this article on VR films this morning and thought it to be pretty interesting. Basically, the article's writer thinks things are at such an early stage both technology wise and film making wise that even the best VR films are only approaching "not so great."

The comments (as of 8am this morning, at least) were pretty good too. Some talked about VR headsets not being able to do a good job tracking anything other than basic rotational movement during a prerecorded film. Others mentioned that having multiple groups talk to the camera (aka you) from different angles and not pausing or demanding your attention when you look away is immersion breaking. Someone mentioned the possibility of using 360 degree light field cameras to help deal with the motion and viewpoint tracking issues. Someone else suggested that maybe combining filmmaking with some sort of 3D engine to allow more interactivity (having characters react more realistically when you look to them or look away) might help.

All in all it was a fascinating look at the future though I couldn't help shake the feeling of that short 3D TV fad. But, maybe this has more promise if the VR and cinematography issues can be worked out. I know we have at least one person around here immersed in filmmaking. I'd love to hear comments. :)

Sundance’s VR films fail by passing the workload buck to their viewers

Avatar

An Interesting Article on VR Films

by Cody Miller @, Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Monday, February 08, 2016, 14:44 (2999 days ago) @ Ragashingo

Yeah. In my LA VR Con post I talked about this a bit. VR without interactivity is completely stupid, and thus all VR films are simply a bad concept. The only thing I can see being worthwhile is something like filming a live event like a concert, and putting the person in the front row. But for narrative? No good.

Avatar

Think of it this way

by Cody Miller @, Music of the Spheres - Never Forgot, Monday, February 08, 2016, 15:51 (2999 days ago) @ Cody Miller
edited by Cody Miller, Monday, February 08, 2016, 15:54

Think not about whether the technology will get better and create better experiences, but rather about it conceptually.

How do you interact with a video game right now? Through a controller, or a mouse and keyboard. If you are playing a racing game, this creates a disconnect because you don't drive with a controller. In real life, you interact with a car by:

Using your hands to turn a wheel and pull /push the gear shifter.
Using your eyes to look around.
Moving your head to see out the sides or back.

You do only one of those things - moving your eyes, when playing a racing game. But add a VR headset and a steering wheel, and now you are interacting exactly as you would a real car. Immersion is much higher! So a VR headset can fundamentally change the way you interact with a racing game.

But when you look at it conceptually, a VR headset does not change the way you interact with a film at all. How do you interact with a film? By choosing what to look at, or if to look at all. You move your eyes to see what you want, and if the theatre and screen is big enough you also move your head a bit. You might choose NOT to look, for instance if something gross or scary is about to happen.

Now do you see? A VR headset doesn't change those modes of interaction at all! You are still just moving your eyes and head. There is no fundamental change. Yet, as the article begins to point out, you give up so much and create so many problems. It is just a matter of degree.

Panoramic photography has been around for a while. You can do it on your phone. So why are pretty much all pictures you see still traditional pictures, and not immersive 360 degree panoramas? The answer if because the frame is something important and fundamental to moviemaking and photography. The boundary to your image is just as important as the image itself.

I predict that the first "VR Movies" that end up working will be those that are essentially FMV video games which trigger different sets of clips based on where you look, etc. But those aren't movies anymore: they are FMV video games.

This is also why things like racing games and flight sims are already great for VR, but things like FPS games will possibly never be with current tech. There are few interactions while racing, namely looking and manipulating a steering wheel and gear shifter. All easily replicated. But an FPS game is more complex. You walk and run around the environment, climb ladders, open and close doors, pick up items, fire guns, etc. None of that is going to move from a controller any time soon. If ever. If I see a gun on the ground and want to pick it up, how exactly would I do that when I'm in my living room and there's just carpet?

Not until we get a holodeck anyway.

Many people simply look at deficiencies in the tech and assume it will get better which will solve current problems, instead of examining the problem on a conceptual level. Even if head tracking is perfect, and we have 256K VR cameras, VR movies will still be awful.

Avatar

Think of it this way

by Ragashingo ⌂, Official DBO Cryptarch, Monday, February 08, 2016, 16:46 (2999 days ago) @ Cody Miller

Agreed. A linear beginning to end film just doesn't feel like it fits VR very well. I do like the idea of reliving events, even in the back rows. If the tracking was good enough everyone around you could stand forcing you to stand too as you tried to keep the band in view... that sort of thing. I do think a well produced and executed VR FMV-ish game could be cool though.

On FPS, I think maybe you're being a bit too restrictive mainly since I've never actually climbed an FPS ladder or picked up a gun and really I'm pretty happy with not having to do those things. Another good point my brother made the other day was separating out the look from the movement is actually a decent bonus to things like the "ultra realistic" FPS games like ARMA or DayZ or whatever. Where with traditional controls your character has to spin on a turntable when prone to look around and such big movements can draw game ending fire but using head tracking or full VR googles can let you keep watch on a much larger field of view without giving yourself away with extra movement

Anyway, I thought you might like to comment on that article, so thanks for the replies. :)

Back to the forum index
RSS Feed of thread