The Potentially Messy Marriage of VR and Cinema

Technology. The movie industry, audience included, seems to have an ongoing love-hate relationship with it. Whether it is The Hobbit with its green screen filming and impressive 48 fps or Avatar and the obsession with 3D it created, technology always seems to be met with trepidation at best, and loathing at worst. Yet production companies continue to look for new ways to revolutionise the movie-going experience and it is the new, exciting technologies that they often look to.

What is the next techy fad that the film industry is looking towards? An answer can be found within the ever-growing gaming market. The gaming industry has already led the way in the television’s journey from High Definition to 4K and the move from DVD to Blu-Ray. It could be about to have another impact on the film industry. 2016 in the video gaming industry has been defined by the rise of Virtual Reality (VR). The HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and particularly the lower priced Playstation VR have all made big waves in the market, and filmmakers are, as always, looking to this newer hardware for inspirations and adaptations within their movies.

From an initial question of spectacle the attraction is obvious. Imagine the sensation of being slap bang in the middle of the Empire’s assault on Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back or the wonder of being sat next to 11 year old Harry as he gets his first glimpse of Hogwarts in The Philosopher's Stone. In terms of immersion and experience, VR’s potential is without question.

Yet there are some limitations which immediately present themselves to a filmmaker crafting a VR cinematic experience. In a viewing medium where the audience is given full control of a 360 degree environment, what is to stop them admiring Hoth’s snowy landscape as the battle rages on behind them, or counting the freckles on Rupert Grint’s face just as Hogwarts is revealed in all its magical glory? In short, there is a lack of artistic control which could certainly put many directors off using the format, particularly when it’s not what they’re comfortable with.

However, there are companies, like Oculus Story Studios, who are working on ideas as to how VR could be used for cinema. Many trailers and bonus contents have already been released exclusively for VR headsets: 20th Century Fox put together a short 20 minutes long video for The Martian allowing viewers to experience Mars as Matt Damon’s character, and the official Hunger Games VR experience gives you a new 360 degree perspective of Katniss’s key moments throughout all four films. Furthermore, the Playstation VR headset allows users to watch a standard film as if they were in an IMAX cinema which, of course, is fantastic for us at home but may spell danger ahead for cinemas.

Viewing experience aside, VR also holds exciting possibilities for the movies’ makers in the production process. Production teams can now show directors props and full set environments before they are even made, thanks to designs and concept arts that are now available in 3D files, greatly reducing the time and resources needed to make a film. What does this mean for us on the receiving end? Hopefully, more films and less cash needed to watch them!

Can we see a motion picture filmed and screened in Virtual Reality anytime soon? Probably not, but the possibility is certainly there. VR will no doubt bring both benefits and challenges for the motion picture, but its integration into the industry is inevitable, and it will not be long before it is as essential to the cinema experience as sound and colour, both of which would’ve been considered impossible by audiences of the first feature films.