Referring to VR, I believe that the two major application scenarios that are common to both users and practitioners are games and movies (including adults, you all know). It is undeniable that VR will play an extremely important role in education, medical care, military, real estate and many other areas. However, games and film and television are the original driving forces behind the development of VR.
According to the latest China VR industry research report by iResearch, over 51% of users stated that the most anticipated use of VR is watching videos. Ereli believes that with the outbreak of VR film and television, VR products will be made into first-line entertainment consumer products, VR officially become a home-based device, the penetration rate will once again rise dramatically.
The next time, we come to talk about those things about VR film and television.
First, several milestones of VR film and television
In 1938, French contemporary dramatist Antonin Artaud mentioned VR for the first time in "Drama and its ghosts."
In 2012, the first VR film "Hunger in Los Angeles" was released, which opened the curtain for the integration of VR and film and television.
In September 2015, the first domestic VR documentary "Kindergarten in the Village" was released.
In December 2015, the first VR drama "Gone" was released.
The appearance of 33 VR films on the Sundance Film Festival in January 2016 marked the start of the VR film and television drama.
The VR documentaries “Waves of Grace†and “Clouds Over Sidra†produced by the United Nations opened up new ideas for VR film and television. With the help of VR features, the naked reality is fully restored to the eyes of the audience. The process brings unprecedented immersion.
Second, the status and expectations of VR film and television
In the eyes of the senior practitioner Tiber in the VR industry, VR movies will break through the boundaries of the film and become the “ninth kind of art†after literature, music, dance, drama, painting, sculpture, architecture, and film.
“VR movies may not be just a technological advancement like that from movies to sounds, from black and white to color, or from 2D to 3D; it's more likely to be a leap of art, just like the original painting transition. For sculpting, or for photography to become a leap like a movie."
With the release of the world's top three headlines such as the Oculus Rift CV1, HTC Vive and Sony PS VR, a large wave of VR content is about to hit, although the quality and quantity still need to be greatly improved, but it can basically meet the needs of users in the early development of the industry. .
For the games and movies that are also recognized as best suited for the VR experience, they have very different status. In terms of games, there are many small teams at home and abroad to create game content, and more traditional game manufacturers like CCP are involved in VR and have already launched relatively high-quality VR game content.
VR game is basically up to standard, VR film and television? Although many domestic VR headline manufacturers claim that there are more than a thousand movie and television films for buyers to appreciate, but split-screen film and television ≠VR film and television, split-screen 3D film and television ≠VR film and television! At present, VR film and TV is still faced with low quality and low quantity. Although well-known film and television companies and teams have started to create VR film and television, the entire industry has not yet formed a set of "doing" and "how to do" standards and programs.
A true and cruel reality about VR film and television is: This is one of the few things that is really rare.
Third, VR film faces difficulties
We have to admit that there is still a long way to go from the initial VR movie form to a mature art. Subject matter, script, editing and sound effects, shooting equipment and so on are all problems that VR film and television are trying to solve.
1, theme
From the perspective of VR characteristics, there are certain limitations for VR movies and television. At least before VR film and TV develops to a certain stage, what kind of themes should be used to bring more immersion to the audience, and it is also a matter for producers to think well. So, what are the current themes suitable for VR movies? Thanks to VR's ability to bring immersive experiences and create atmosphere, terror and adventure themes will undoubtedly be the main direction of early VR film and television. The several VR short films launched by the United Nations have brought new ideas for the choice of VR film themes: adopting a complete documentary approach to display the true living environment of others in front of the audience, starting from humanitarianism and through the senses. The deterrence brought to the audience the washing of the soul, thus playing an enlightening role. In addition, although in many countries and regions including China, the “adult†subject matter itself is not allowed by law, but it is undeniable that “adult†has also greatly promoted the development of VR.
2, the script
The story of the traditional film and television works uses a linear narrative approach, and the audience can easily understand the story. Only need to consider the development of the story, with a variety of traditional film performance techniques for display on the line. In VR film and television, because the audience's attention is scattered, this requires the screenwriter to add multiple parallel scenarios for the audience to explore. Because it is God's point of view that is presented to the audience, rather than the traditional fixed image, the expression method is relatively single, and the picture outside the lens in the traditional film must also be comprehensive. Therefore, in terms of script/dramatic, relative to traditional film and television works, VR film and television show a geometric multiple difficulty.
3, interaction
The sense of immersion that VR movies bring to viewers is to a large extent achieved through interaction. This means that when the audience is in the virtual world of television and can interact in this virtual world, it can be considered as a true VR movie experience. At present, apparently no complete interactive solution has yet been formed. Of course, there are also some interactive experiences that are worth learning. For example, “Henry†communicates with the audience through the small hedgehog eyes; “Doghouse†makes the audience become a member of the film through the first person; Oculus released the first movie “ Lost is to interact by making viewers become fireflies and communicate with each other. However, the interactions provided by the above VR film and television works are relatively simple, and the immersiveness brought to the audience is not very strong. To achieve deep interaction, the entire industry needs continuous exploration.
4, sound effects
If you want to get a real sense of immersion in VR movies, sound effects will certainly be one of the indispensable factors. In our opinion, stereo sound is just the beginning stage of VR film and television. As mentioned earlier, the audience's attention is not the same. How to match the sound effects in real time by judging the user's focus is actually a major difficulty faced by VR film and television production. It is gratifying that we see more and more audio manufacturers at home and abroad beginning to enter the field of virtual reality. We believe that in the near future we will be able to provide the sound solutions required for VR film and television.
5, perspective
In VR games, users can use gyroscopes and position tracking devices to achieve mobile effects. In VR film and television, viewers can only experience the story through the camera's benchmark, and can't freely move the viewing angle, which greatly affects the viewing experience.
6, the director's intention
In the traditional film and television works, it is very easy to guide the audience to see the shots the director wants to express. Because the viewers are encouraged to look at them, the audience has to look at them and they have no choice. However, in VR film and television, the director is unable to control the perspective of the audience. How to create an omnipotent perspective, but it can pull the audience back to the mainline, has become one of the most troublesome issues for the director. Of course, it is not a complete solution. The key lies in the way in which the immersive experience of the audience is not affected as much as possible, and also the expression that the director wishes to express can be expressed as well. For the vision control problem, the VR movie "Manslaughter" uses a blue point in the film story to guide the user to what should happen. While letting the main line stand out more prominently, keeping the viewer's attention mostly on the main line while allowing the whole world to function normally, expressing the atmosphere is also a relatively good approach at present. Others point out that an invisible frame is set around the VR movie; once the audience's head passes through the intangible boundaries, the movie pauses, allowing the audience to spend time exploring the surrounding environment and even starting to interact. In this way, it can not only meet the audience's curiosity and exploration, but also allow the audience to finally return to the screen the director wants to express.
7, the cost
And the realization of the channel to capture the cost of shooting is also one of the factors limiting VR film and television. Compared to some of the small-cost film and television works in traditional films, VR film and television is often invested in hundreds of millions of dollars, resulting in some small companies and studios that want to get involved in VR film and television can only be discouraged. As the VR industry is still in its infancy, popularity is not high. At this stage, VR movies and TV programs are usually paid for by downloading on the content platform. However, since there are few users who own the equipment at this stage, even if a good VR film and television work is produced, it will be difficult to realize it through the channel within a short time.
8, how to hide the director and camera
For a director who has just come into contact with VR film and television, he or she will have to think about the same question: Where should I direct when shooting? In the process of shooting a traditional film and television work, it is naturally not necessary to consider this issue. But during the filming of VR film and television works, all people and things outside the camera will become part of the scene. For this issue, Lanting Digital's solution is to directly connect a VR live streaming machine to the shooting device. The actor performed in the house, and the director and other staff retired to a distance far outside the house and directed the shooting effect through an external device.
9, 360 degree scene how to clip
In traditional film and television works, the effect of editing only needs to consider a small part within the scope of the display. But in VR film and television, it is super complicated to consider, including how to seamlessly edit, how to display the main storyline, and so on.
10, shooting equipment
For a immersive VR experience, naturally it cannot be done with existing shooting equipment. Low-cost panoramic photography equipment, in terms of resolution and shooting angles are difficult to meet the requirements of VR film and television; and relatively professional equipment, such as Nokia's latest OZO, the price is as high as 60,000 US dollars. Written in the final: no doubt, with the development of the VR industry, when hardware equipment gradually matures, when the popularity reaches a certain stage, VR film and television will eventually keep up with the pace and rapid development. The true VR film and television should be a combination of high immersion, high freedom and interaction. The audience can not only be immersed in the story, but also can influence the direction of the story through some interactions, like playing games, to experience a film and television works. Perhaps this is the final form of VR film.
Attachment: List of domestic and international VR film and television productions and producers
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