How Creatives Are Hacking the Movie Set for Virtual Reality

A 360-degree camera can see everything in the room, so VR directors are designing new workarounds

Child: Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth.

Neo: What truth?

Child: There is no spoon.

The next time you put on a virtual reality headset, watch a live-action film and try to be like Neo. Look around and realize that as realistic as the scene might look, a film set without cameras, lights, or sound equipment is impossible. You’re not inside The Matrix, but what’s really going on here?

The 360-degree nature of VR cameras creates a new challenge for directors, who now have to figure out how to make a film where the camera records everything within sight. A VR camera looks otherworldly — like a high-tech hydrangea. The high-end versions feature a dozen or more cameras arranged in a sphere, lenses pointed out. Once you film something and stitch all the videos together, you get a 360-degree movie suitable for viewing inside a virtual reality headset.

Directors have responded to the new technology with a slew of design choices that affect everything from set design to how they rig lights. Some directors leave…