After last month’s SMBYYC (#SMByyc93) where Shaun Crawford (MammothVR) talked about VR and AR and where’s it going, my head started spinning about how it can be used to tell stories. A point was raised that traditional filmmakers are hesitant to embrace it because they like to direct the attention of the viewer and there’s too much freedom in the 360 world. It made me think of this: Picture that scene in Children of Men, where Clive Owen makes his way through a battlefield but in complete immersive 360 VR.
The viewer’s POV is directed via the sounds that surround him, the bullets whizzing by, the explosions and cries in the distance. It would be amazing.
And of course, someone did it already. The New York Times did an 11min long doc film with an embedded journalist following iraqi troops in Fallujah, the best way to view this, is to either use Cardboard or a VR headset.
Wow. This is the future of storytelling!
