VR Film Work posted: 04/09/2017
by Andy Marken
You have no idea what you have unleashed. - Dr. Henry Jekyll, The Mummy, 2017, Universal
Developing, delivering, and using a new technology like VR isn't easy; but gawk, is it fun.
At IBC, we'll see - and hear from - people who can see it, almost touch it. And we'll hear a ton of naysayers.
They've forgotten that:
- Silent movies lasted from 1895 - 1936
- B&W TV started in 1928
- The first U.S. color transmission was in 1954 (Tournament of Roses) but B&W reigned for another dozen years
Not a lot of color TV sets sold back then.
Why? Lack of content, high cost of production and lack of viewing screens.
The M&E industry has a lot of challenges, issues, opportunities on its plate but the Amsterdam event (Sept 14-19) is focused on helping the industry be prepared to prosper in the next 50 years.
And if that isn't enough, there's the SMPTE (Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers) conference a month later in Hollywood.
Very simply, we can deliver the immersive experiences visionaries and early adopters envision. The technologies - HW/SW - will continue to evolve and the early creators are shooting/producing content people want and expect.
But it will not happen overnight because we're changing just about everything.
VR Forms - What you call VR may be different than the person next to you or down the aisle. Technically, they are all variations of the technology; it's all a matter of degrees
Today, we're transitioning people from the flat screen they view (regardless of the size) and someone else is dictating the content storyline and its flow to content that enables viewers to explore the general story but can change it by looking left, right, up and down.
One analyst questioned how you monetize the new video approach; citing that presently, the audience is small, production costs are high, theatres are leery, there's no star power /actor identification and maybe, just maybe, it's a fad.
The transition from B&W to color was important but it didn't challenge the industry - nothing changed for shooter, producer, director, production, audio or viewer but everything was in color.
The challenge for VR today is to achieve instant success.
VR is just in its first consumer generation with the classic chicken and egg scenario; and it's something that producers with enviable track records and independent filmmakers are investing in to change.
They - and early adopters - are just beginning to discover what works and what doesn't.
Rehearsal - VR films can be scripted but they're scripted from the perspective of the viewer. Doug Limon (back to you) checks a scene with Lewis Smithingham of 30 Ninjas. The episodic series Invisible has been widely acclaimed by producers and viewers
Doug Liman, who produced Bourn Identity and Edge of Tomorrow was tired of the industry's old rules and stepped outside the filmmaker guidelines to produced Invisible, an episodic series, with Melissa Wallack and Lewis Smithingham of 30 Ninjas.
It's difficult to step out of the industry comfort zone where you have a proven set of steps to deliver a product the audience can judge based on the script, actors and production work.
Fortunately, an increasing number of filmmakers are willing to take chances to let people experience the artform.
Basic Tool
At IBC, there will be a dizzying array of professional VR shooting rigs in the halls from superb palm-sized units like Sphericam to ultra-large 360 units.
The quick-to-market units have been 360 devices that are a series of cameras hidden inside a mystery housing. Others will be designed from the inside out as true VR cameras that capture it all, including above and below.
Some will be outta' sight expensive (so you rent the rig for your project); others will be consumer grade for a few hundred-thousand dollars.
However, as every shooter knows; it's not the rig, it's the glass that makes the camera and the lenses are often the key aspect every filmmaker will look for.
The great thing about all of the rigs is that they capture a lot of content - 10X RAW video, compared to a conventional 4K/8K camera and in the right hands, the solutions (and labor-intensive production work) can deliver exhilarating experiences.
There is a growing number of VR projects that are being shot, produced and enjoyed by people who want more than sedentary entertainment.
Indie and studio VR projects like John Wickes Chronicles, The Martian, Meat and Sand, Hello Mars, The Protectors, Fear Thy Neighbors and Gone are giving viewers exposure to the new video medium.
As early experiences show, VR won't replace 4K/HDR productions but should be viewed as a complement not a competitor.
As for the failure prophets, VR content is a break from the past mass theatrical events.
It requires a new approach to the storyline and technical execution we're only beginning to be comfortable with.
Andrew Shulkind, one of the leading cinematographers in the immersive space and developer of the Headcase Cinema Camera, noted, Storage and bandwidth in the immersive space are factors that we have to really take seriously.
For gaming, he noted that there is a trend to approximate frame rates that match the headset refresh that works best for CG (computer graphics) environments. But for live-action cinematic content, the motion blur from lower frame rates adds a more suitable softness.
Rigs Galore - VR camera systems come in almost any shape and size imaginable and even more will be shown this year at IBC
Otherwise, it feels like a soap opera.
Frame rate has significant storage implications; 60fps requires twice the storage space of footage shot at 30fps. The Headcase Cinema Camera, one of the highest-resolution
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VR Film Work posted: 04/09/2017 
