Where is the Genius in VR on earth
The problem with television is that people must sit and keep their eyes glue on a screen; the average American family hasn’t time for it.
- A 1939 New York Times review of a demonstration of TV at the World’s Fair
Is this how people today see VR?
In VR in Immersive Storytelling Conference, Paul Cheung started his to talk with this quote. VR is the genius in the lamp, everybody thinks there is a treasure inside but no one can break the seal yet. All the giants want to rub the lamp. Google Cardboard, HTC vive, Samsung Gear VR, are making gear; Amazon, Youtube 360, Facebook are building the platform; and NYT VR, Pornhub, Neflex, and Vrse are focusing on contents.
Why VR? That’s the questions the consumers will ask and the VR creators need to think about every day. There are lists of PMI (plus, minus, interesting) for VR, some are commonly hold opinion and some are my thoughts. Since VR just in the baby stage, Minus is more than Plus and most Plus is actually can only Interesting because the true strength haven’t been fully developed yet. However, most Minus have the potential to become Plus.
Minus
- VR sickness: It’s my first impression of VR. Only 3D games like PS make me dizzy, so needless to say the 360 environment 3D world was definitely a torture. Roller Coaster VR
- Cannot touch: even Leap motion can detect hand gestures, but without the sense of touching. Users will still feel detached.
- Bad for eyes: Cardboard will put mobile phone close to your eyes, parents will definitely not like this idea.
- It’s an unnatural environment to the eyes: the developers need to have a deep understanding of how eyes work. For instance, if users see things in the distance, that image should be focused different.
Interesting
- Traveling experience. Petapixel VR photos
- VR is good at empathy, like
Chris Milk: How virtual reality can create the ultimate empathy machine. Chris’ team takes a VR document of the environments of Syrian refugees and makes the committee who sits in the conference room in Switzerland watch it, before they make decisions about refugees’ futures. - Terror experience: that’s the most commonly used environment for VR, because its’ immersive, so it really creates a frightening moment. But personally I don’t like the topic of terror. Catatonic by Vrse
- Porn experience: in theory, it’s very exciting, because it fulfils human’s imagination to have sex. VR porn by Pornhub
- Game experience
- Peep experience: It’s my private experience, when watching VR documentaries. It gave me an intimate feeling of gazing and peeking.
- VR: Social Media: Compared with games and movies, the first problem in social media is that the VR additions to social media may not be worth the hassle of putting on VR gear.
Story Telling in VR
Compared with the game, I am more into the possibilities of storytelling in VR. VR enables audiences to totally immerse themselves in the story environment setting. However, in VR, the director cannot control where audiences look, and also there are no close up shots, so VR videos cannot use montage to tell the story. VR film is more like a stage performance.
What is the methods/principles for story telling in VR?
VRSE has a great documentary project, 10 Shots Across the Border, it enables audiences to understand how tall fences are, and how the teenagers live beside the border. Also, The Displaced from NYT VR makes people feel how Syrian refugees in Lebanon live. Those projects teach us that VR film enables audiences to experience the characters’ point of view and feel close with them.
The End
Finally, I expect a problem with contents. The challenge for all people who want to make VR a trend is: How to make multitaskers willing to fully pay attention to the film?
We are spoilt, we don’t want to focus, we multitasker, we watch Neflext when we eat, and use two screens at the same time, we read when taking subway. VR is defenetly experience, it aim us to put down the thing we are doing to put a gear on our head. How can this make us feel it’s worth it?
We could put broadway show or Sleep No More in VR. It’s an awesome deal to users, because compared with broadway tickets, it’s so cheap and you feel like you are sitting in the first row.
