Defined as the computer-generated simulation of a three dimensional image or environment via a helmet or other piece of electronic equipment, Virtual Reality is becoming the fastest-growing medium for entertainment.
Now virtual reality is joining forces with Hollywood to provide consumers with a brand-new approach to storytelling. With it viewers can wear a special headset or watch via a mobile device and change what they’re looking at, seeing everything that was filmed, in 360 degrees, in real time.
Filmmakers now working in the virtual reality world are learning that there are many differences from traditional filmmaking. Things like staging scenes, how you shoot a scene, how actors and actresses move around, and how you engineer sound are all new learning curves. Only a few traditional techniques are used with virtual reality cinema.
Being that virtual reality cinema is so new, many production companies are starting off with short-form content but also episode-driven content so stories can be told in intervals (similar to a TV series season) over a longer period of time via episodes.
These segments will take a viewer onto journeys only seen in the past via sci-fi movies such as The Matrix. This new type of movie watching takes away the frame, and the edits.
For more than 100 years, on-screen entertainment has been consumed in pretty much the same way. A rectangular screen maintained at a certain distance from our eyes. With time, technology has improved and the size, sound and quality of content you viewed has improved. Just not at a level like this. By presenting images, via a headset or next-generation smartphone, with 360-degree interactivity twisted in, brings a whole new kind of viewing and listening experience to the table.
It should be exciting to see what the future holds for technology like this. It will surely change entertainment, as we know it today.
About Matt Thames
Matt Thames is Brand Manager for Selby Acoustics. He enjoys sharing tips on home audio and visual topics.
image courtesy of: *channeleye *
