A Guide to Surviving Your First Cinematic VR Experience
Recently, I had the opportunity to participate in a cinematic virtual reality experience for the first time. Contraverse had their Toronto VR premiere this past Thursday at the House of VR, and it was certainly something to write home about, or perhaps more accurately — write to the internet about. To those who missed out, I encourage you to support Contraverse in their adventure in cinematic VR in the future. You won’t regret it.
Before I share my hodgepodge of a half instructional, half reflective guide, I want to give a hat tip to Contraverse on their hard work, and shine a bit of light (no spoilers) on the short films they shared.
The premiere screened three short films, each an unrelated story that explored different themes. They were called Pawn, Broken Mirror, and Contravision. They presented the usual movie genres of action, psychological thriller, drama, and sci-fi — a genre for every bias save the romantically inclined. There was no need to be intimidated or put off by the sci-fi slant VR seems to find itself tied to, as Contraverse toured many different genres. While I find myself sci-fi inclined, I appreciated the deviation, as it allowed many different people to enjoy the films on the narrative level in addition to the new-VR-experience level.
In any case, these are my tips on how to survive (read: enjoy) your first cinematic VR experience.
Get a feel for the technology before hand.
You may have heard of VR and its range of current applications through social media or what-have-you, but many people have yet to experience the technology in person, as the high price tag of the equipment has made is inaccessible to the general public (the HTC Vive set retails for around $699, and the Oculus Rift around $529). Before you jump into a cinematic VR experience, I encourage you to do your research on the technology. Not only will you come out of it learning something, but also more knowledgeable on how it interacts with you and your body.
Prepare yourself accordingly.
At this point in your life, you should have a sense of how your body reacts to motion — be it in cars, airplanes, or even on a swing set. Apply this knowledge along with your newly researched VR information to prepare yourself accordingly. I knew going in to the experience that I tend to be a very motion-sick, nausea prone person, so Gravol was definitely a consideration. If you’re extremely sensitive, maybe opt to skip out on any nausea inducing activities before the show so you can experience the VR at your best. Personally, I opted out of testing the VR sets before the show, so I could save myself for the experience and avoid any pre-show nausea.
Experience the cinematic VR experience.
Headset and earphones on, let yourself be immersed in the experience. Don’t feel shy about doing as many chair-swivels as you need to fully explore the world presented to you during the cinematic experience. You may run into some technical difficulties, as I did. The technology is still fairly new, so these things can happen. My headset overheated, but the instructions on the screen to solve the issue were clear — if you have any technical difficulties, let the team running the experience know as soon as possible if you can’t solve it on your own, so that you can get right back into it.
Remember your manners.
Take note of the people who made the experience possible. Appreciate their innovation and storytelling, and show your appreciation by giving a solid round of applause. Thank the team(s) who made it possible! Personally, after the screening I found myself in a very awkward situation where no one clapped. At first I gave the audience the benefit of the doubt as the experience was very immersive, and perhaps people still didn’t find themselves quite back on earth. However, after further reflection, I believe this lack of common-sense manners may also point to something else — that the shifting of technological experiences is not in tandem with social practices. It is reminiscent of the disregard shown towards artists rights in the online space of uncredited work and torrents.
This VR experience, while familiar in is cinematic qualities, is altogether new to most people. Maybe it was the change of context, wearing an isolating headset, or maybe it was the change of space, being in a room full of rolling chairs with no traditional screen to project applause at. Whatever it was, something about the experience was so jarring that it found itself removed from our dictionary of social practices, which is truly bizarre. I think that moving forward, in cinematic VR experiences, just as in other aspects of technology, we as consumers and creatives need to keep our values and social practices up to date and at pace, in order for creatives to continue to be appreciated and valued as they deserve.
