{"id":87,"date":"2016-10-07T04:33:56","date_gmt":"2016-10-07T04:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/writersroom.ca\/knotforsale\/2016\/10\/07\/the-strengths-of-360-vr\/"},"modified":"2016-10-07T04:33:56","modified_gmt":"2016-10-07T04:33:56","slug":"the-strengths-of-360-vr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/writersroom.ca\/knotforsale\/2016\/10\/07\/the-strengths-of-360-vr\/","title":{"rendered":"The Strengths of 360 VR"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Brad Seabrook, University of Victoria<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I first came into contact with 360o<\/sup> Virtual Reality film with no expectations. After arriving, my Google Cardboard sat on the self for over two weeks until the first time I picked it up. When I did finally pick it up, it wasn\u2019t because I wanted to, but because I had <\/i>to. This lack of excitement doesn\u2019t speak well for the brand of 360o<\/sup> VR. I wasn\u2019t hearing a lot about it, and what I was hearing was negative criticism of 360o<\/sup> being a broken gimmick. But I am not here to talk about what others say, am I? No, but when I did first \u201cexperience\u201d 360o<\/sup>, I understood the criticism. Low resolution, double vision and an unconvincing immersion was what I found\u2026 until I began to really play with it. I\u2019m going to liken 360o<\/sup> VR to a talking animal movie for a second here: in both you need to suspend your disbelief and trust that this is <\/i>real, or you will not enjoy it in the slightest.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take The Exorcist VR Experience <\/i>as an example. When it begins, what is supposed to be scary is quickly revealed and I had the feeling that I was in fact watching<\/i> something, not experiencing<\/i> it. However, I came to the realization that this was now upon me to do some work alongside the film, er experience. I covered the sides of the Cardboard and let my whole world go black, then accepted that this was where I physically was. I took steps in each direction and spun around, disorienting myself. Seemingly as if the film knew I was now into it, the screen went black, and the surround sound kicked in. Screams and chuckles came from all directions as I frantically tried to find the little girl that was terrorizing me<\/i>, not a character. That was the exact strength of this piece. It did not make it easy or the viewer. It did not show me the little, possessed girl, but instead, I had to look for her. This can be a strength of 360o<\/sup> VR in my mind; for too long viewers have been fed information. It is time to make them look for it.<\/p>\n

Now let\u2019s look at a narrative film, which are seemingly scarce. The Mr. Robot VR Experience<\/i> is the short film in question, and I have to say, as somebody who has never watched a scene from the show Mr. Robot<\/i>, this film grabbed me surprisingly quickly. Even coming into it with a high expectation, knowing it was produced at a high level, I was impressed with the creativeness it held, even if it was a little on the nose. Raising the camera when Elliot gets high is predictable, but because I <\/i>was being moved, not a perceived camera, it worked. This kind of cinematography would be a huge faux pas in today\u2019s standard, but in 360o<\/sup> it worked for me. Reflecting back on this film I have to think hard about why<\/i> it worked. I think the simple answer is the performances put on by the actors. In contrast to a 360o<\/sup> VR film such as Catatonic<\/i>, which held perhaps the most over-acting I have ever seen, Mr. Robot<\/i>\u2019s performances were on point: perfectly subtle, yet captivating to watch play out. However, this simply is not something that can be expected in every VR film. There must be other strengths, and Mr. Robot<\/i> luckily does have more.<\/p>\n

The most prominent of which was the placement of the camera. During the final scene, in which Elliot and his date are lying on the bed, I found myself shaking my head left and right, as the camera was placed over top of them. The angle was so strange, I couldn\u2019t quite orient myself, and that was adding directly to my sympathy for Elliot\u2019s fractured memory: his want to not forget. Again, in an earlier scene on the Ferris wheel, I couldn\u2019t help but notice that after a cut to and from the scene, it appeared as if the couple were sitting in different seats. Was this simply a continuity mistake, or was this meant to portray Elliot\u2019s loss of memory? This is the kind of cinematography that I did not think was possible in 360o <\/sup>VR, and opens up the possibility for film analysis (insert excitement here).<\/p>\n

Perhaps my most pleasant experience in 360o <\/sup>VR was in viewing the film LOVR. This is an animated film based upon throwing data at you, visually. The subject matter is certainly not the most interesting, and is based solely upon reading the information being thrown at the viewer. However, what I did enjoy, was the movement<\/i> of the film. Not only was information literally flowing past, but it was dynamically moving me, almost like a virtual dance. The position of the camera forced me into its movement, and forced me to turn and find where I needed to look. It was generally disorienting, and that only helped to immerse me into the reality, even if it was entirely built of words and black.<\/p>\n

So yes, I can see the strengths of 360o <\/sup>VR, even if all the films do not employ all the best techniques for success. I think we need to take a step back and remember where Film <\/i>itself used to be when the Lumiere brothers were making films. Film language took years to build itself up into a mainstream medium that was considered \u201cart.\u201d 360o <\/sup>VR needs time to mature in an age where patience is a non-factor.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Brad Seabrook, University of Victoria I first came into contact with 360o Virtual Reality film with no expectations. After arriving, my Google Cardboard sat on the self for over two weeks until the first time I picked it up. When I did finally pick it up, it wasn\u2019t because I wanted to, but because I had to. This lack of excitement doesn\u2019t speak well for the brand of 360o VR. I wasn\u2019t hearing a lot about it, and what I was hearing was negative criticism of 360o being a broken gimmick. But I am not here to talk about what others say, am I? No, but when I did first \u201cexperience\u201d 360o, I understood the criticism. Low resolution, double vision and an unconvincing immersion was what I found\u2026 until I began to really play with it. I\u2019m going to liken 360o VR to a talking animal movie for a\u2026<\/p>\n

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