VR – the future of storytelling? Or is it radio the future of storytelling?

[Ed_David]

After reading about Capcom's tech demo at E3 - the Kitchen - http://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/06/the-kitchen-on-project-morpheus-will-devour-your-soul/ - and how it was the scariest experience the journalist ever had - I am beginning to no longer be skeptical of Virtual Reality as a new form of storytelling - completely immersive as a way to show an experience.

While the technology remains passive - you really only have control over where you can look - eventually I think using it with existing controllers like a steering wheel, exercise bike, flight control deck and a traditional xbox controller can give the users a newfound way of experiencing a story and eventually with motion tracking software, even more immersion.  It's not quite there yet but it seems like this is the time when we can get serious about it, that we have fast enough gfx cards and CPUs to handle a 2-camera simultaneous 1080p plus system.

And for those who doubt 1st person storytelling as less effective than third person traditional storytelling, one should experience Half Life 2 to see the art and ability to weave a story with a first person point of view.  While it's not perfect, it's a new frontier of storytelling to explore and I'm sure with the right artists involved, a first person visual experience can become as immersive and heartbreaking as a passive third-person story, just as quickly the Kitchen demo shows.

And of course, where does this leave traditional cinema?

I think what's important to remember is that the cinema started as a spectacle when it came out - it was a thrill ride seen for entertainment, and novelists probably snubbed their noses at it, just as filmmakers like James Cameron snub his nose at VR.  It's a new threat.  Happens all the time.  Cinema was once the new guy and quickly became more than spectacle, and started quickly to deliver cinematic masterpieces of visual and storytelling.

And as well, now more than ever podcasts are more popular - basically one of the earliest tools of telling a story - orally.  I keep remembering how enthralled me and millions of others were by the Serial podcast - as exhilarating as "the Thin Blue Line" but done with just a series of microphones and a computer.

So there is the future and the past right there constantly there for us to enjoy as well as of course writing which can tell a story like no other and is free and there to tell.

VR may very well be the most fascinating way to show people other worlds and make them believable - or maybe they won't - because at the end of the day - it's polygons one interacts with - and that's not completely believable by the brain.

Perhaps then it's the past that is the most effective - with the likes of "War of the Worlds" - a radio broadcast by Orson Welles that literally scared the Bejesus out of everyone who heard it.

I guess my point is the fear of the new, when instead we can embrace the old, or embrace any tool that we have - because in the end it's just another way to tell a story - you have whatever tool you want at the moment - just pick one thing and put your heart into it as much as you can. To not get scared, but understand that things change.  Constantly.  And choosing to ignore the change is not good.  Because if you can grasp on something new, you can ride a wave before everyone else does.  And you have a voice that is unique and people will pay attention, more than if you just do the status-quo.

[AaronChicago]

For anyone interested in checking out a cheap demo of VR, order Google Cardboard for $15. It works with your smartphone and is pretty impressive. Not 100% like Oculus b/c its all stationary, but you get a good taste of things to come.

[sanveer]

After reading about Capcom's tech demo at E3 - the Kitchen - http://www.kotaku.com.au/2015/06/the-kitchen-on-project-morpheus-will-devour-your-soul/ - and how it was the scariest experience the journalist ever had - I am beginning to no longer be skeptical of Virtual Reality as a new form of storytelling - completely immersive as a way to show an experience.

While the technology remains passive - you really only have control over where you can look - eventually I think using it with existing controllers like a steering wheel, exercise bike, flight control deck and a traditional xbox controller can give the users a newfound way of experiencing a story and eventually with motion tracking software, even more immersion.  It's not quite there yet but it seems like this is the time when we can get serious about it, that we have fast enough gfx cards and CPUs to handle a 2-camera simultaneous 1080p plus system.

And for those who doubt 1st person storytelling as less effective than third person traditional storytelling, one should experience Half Life 2 to see the art and ability to weave a story with a first person point of view.  While it's not perfect, it's a new frontier of storytelling to explore and I'm sure with the right artists involved, a first person visual experience can become as immersive and heartbreaking as a passive third-person story, just as quickly the Kitchen demo shows.

And of course, where does this leave traditional cinema?

I think what's important to remember is that the cinema started as a spectacle when it came out - it was a thrill ride seen for entertainment, and novelists probably snubbed their noses at it, just as filmmakers like James Cameron snub his nose at VR.  It's a new threat.  Happens all the time.  Cinema was once the new guy and quickly became more than spectacle, and started quickly to deliver cinematic masterpieces of visual and storytelling.

And as well, now more than ever podcasts are more popular - basically one of the earliest tools of telling a story - orally.  I keep remembering how enthralled me and millions of others were by the Serial podcast - as exhilarating as "the Thin Blue Line" but done with just a series of microphones and a computer.

So there is the future and the past right there constantly there for us to enjoy as well as of course writing which can tell a story like no other and is free and there to tell.

VR may very well be the most fascinating way to show people other worlds and make them believable - or maybe they won't - because at the end of the day - it's polygons one interacts with - and that's not completely believable by the brain.

Perhaps then it's the past that is the most effective - with the likes of "War of the Worlds" - a radio broadcast by Orson Welles that literally scared the Bejesus out of everyone who heard it.

I guess my point is the fear of the new, when instead we can embrace the old, or embrace any tool that we have - because in the end it's just another way to tell a story - you have whatever tool you want at the moment - just pick one thing and put your heart into it as much as you can. To not get scared, but understand that things change.  Constantly.  And choosing to ignore the change is not good.  Because if you can grasp on something new, you can ride a wave before everyone else does.  And you have a voice that is unique and people will pay attention, more than if you just do the status-quo.

I guess they say that about every new technology. 

 

IMHO VR is goingto go the 3D way. It's toi personal, anti-social, and the wow factor is limited. 

 

For anyone interested in checking out a cheap demo of VR, order Google Cardboard for $15. It works with your smartphone and is pretty impressive. Not 100% like Oculus b/c its all stationary, but you get a good taste of things to come.

I've tried Google Cardboard. Pretty neat, but difficult to control movement. I guess it will improve as it gets more popular.

[Geoff CB]

It's to cumbersome for live action filmmaking. Your sets have to be fully realized, you can't just build a section of a room, you have to build the entire room and you can't have any of the crew in shot, you can't light the scene except with natural lighting. You can't control what the audience is looking at. Because of these reasons it will never catch on for live action narrative storytelling. It might for CGI films, but for a few years when the environments can be rendered in real time. 

It's going to explode in the video game community though. When proper motion controllers for peoples hands come out that will be the tipping point. It will be expensive at first but the interactive experience will be incredible.

[fuzzynormal]

Well, hey, we're still reading books, right?

uh...right?

[Ed_David]

It's to cumbersome for live action filmmaking. Your sets have to be fully realized, you can't just build a section of a room, you have to build the entire room and you can't have any of the crew in shot, you can't light the scene except with natural lighting. You can't control what the audience is looking at. Because of these reasons it will never catch on for live action narrative storytelling. It might for CGI films, but for a few years when the environments can be rendered in real time. 

It's going to explode in the video game community though. When proper motion controllers for peoples hands come out that will be the tipping point. It will be expensive at first but the interactive experience will be incredible.

​I kind of think it could become something like that MacBeth play experiment in NYC - "Sleep No More" where you are a ghost and go from room to room.

But yes I see CGI and animation as the real user of VR experience - live action would be very difficult to capture.  Maybe with a 360 degree camera it's possible - could be quite fascinating as well.

For one VR opens up a lot of new doors and experiences if they can make it as good as the kitchen demo.

 

[jax_rox]

I wouldn't be surprised if the future of VR is a cross between a CGI movie experience and a video gaming experience, perhaps in addition to pure CGI movies, and video games (in addition to video games for VR headsets).