VR in film and TV
Virtual reality has had a resurgence of popularity in the last few years, but it has been present in the film industry since as early as 1992 with “The Lawnmower Man.”
“The Lawnmower Man” was the first full feature length film to be made using virtual reality. While the movie made more than triple its budget of $10 million, due to the cost of using VR and the fact that most people would become nauseous, the industry moved away from the medium.
That could change in the next few years though.
With companies like Facebook and RED working to make a 360 degree virtual reality camera, it’s much more likely to become a reality in the film sector. RED has a lot of pull, technology wise, in the industry, so if they’re picking it up, it’s likely to go somewhere.
It seems to be the new trend for companies to take on the task of creating better virtual reality. Google has also picked up this idea by working with light fields to simulate light from multiple angles in virtual reality, which might lead to a technology that’s implemented into multiple VR camera systems.
The TV broadcasting industry also seems to be moving in the direction of VR with companies like Altia Systems working to stream sporting events in full virtual reality that according to Tony Romo, “makes you feel like you’re there.”
This is a huge resurgence in interest in virtual reality from multiple sectors that are all trying to combine their efforts to develop content for all forms of media. This is the first time that VR has become such a widespread interest in the business world and with these technologies becoming relatively cheap for a quality experience, granted you’ll be paying a lot more for the highest quality ones, more consumers are likely to pick it up.
The Sundance Film Festival has featured an entire section dedicated to virtual reality and even augmented reality since 2012 and this year has had the largest showing ever with over 20 entries.
VR is already a part of the industry, in some of the largest areas, so it stands to reason that its prevalence will only increase over the next several years.
