Never mind the gimmicks: a wave of film-makers are turning VR into a new form of storytelling.
There's a scene in Gabo Arora and Chris Milk's virtual reality film documentary Waves of Grace when you find yourself standing over a Liberian grave as volunteers in hazmat suits lower another victim of the Ebola virus into the ground. Being in VR, you feel like you could topple into the hole; and when you turn to see hundreds of marked graves around you, the reality of life in the disease-ravaged country hits you harder than any news report ever could. "VR allows you to truly take someone there," says Patrick Milling Smith, co-founder of Vrse.works, the LA-based production company that created the film in partnership with the United Nations. "You can literally make someone feel like they have been teleported to a destination. When someone looks into your eyes, it results in a connection that is only possible in virtual reality."
With the arrival of consumer VR headsets, starting in October with the HTC Vive and continuing in March 2016 with the Oculus Rift, virtual reality cinema is about to explode (see our forthcoming The WIRED World in 2016). The form has also led to a flurry of studioses adopting the new form of film-making. Henry, the second animated film from Oculus Story Studio, features an affection-starved hedgehog that reacts to your gaze in real time. First Life, created by Atlantic Productions, is the first VR nature documentary, complete with narration by David Attenborough.
London-based Unit9 has made VR shorts for the likes of Lexus and Stella Artois. "We are establishing the language and conventions of a new form of storytelling," says creative director Henry Cowling, 35. "Right now, every project we create is charting new territory, whether technically or creatively."
Many early films often focus on sheer sensation; putting you inside the head of a world-class footballer or an aerobatics pilot. (Some startups, such as Somniacs and Hyve 3D, have gone even further, building full-blown simulators with air fans and added smells to heighten the experience.)
But the medium can also have much subtler effects -- such as heightening our sense of empathy. "It's an incredibly intimate and often emotional experience," says Rewind studio founder Solomon Rogers, 35. "When we showed our Björk music video [for "Stonemilker"] at MoMA in New York, we had people in tears because they were so moved by what they had seen and felt."
It's innovative storytelling like Waves of Grace -- rather than disorientating marketing stunts -- that will ensure a life for VR beyond launch. "The medium is moving at lightning speed," says Vrse.works' Milling Smith. "You only need to witness reactions to VR to realise this will have a profound impact."
[h2]Five VR films you need to see[/h3]
Clouds Over Sidra: The first UN documentary by Gabo Arora and Chris Milk follows Sidra, a 12-year-old Syrian refugee. The VRSE app is available on iTunes.
First Life: Narrated by David Attenborough, this takes you to the ocean floor 500 million years ago. At the Natural History Museum in London.
**Stonemilker:**Created by Rewind for Björk's recent MoMA exhibit, the video, on an Icelandic beach, shows the power of binaural sound (and multiple Björks).
**Henry:**The second film from Oculus Story Studio, this animated short by a former Pixar director follows a friendly hedgehog. Requires Oculus Rift.
**Birdly:**Less a film than an experience, Birdly straps you to a bird-like simulator (with fan-made wind) to fly over San Francisco.
Photography: Emily Shaw
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
