VR film and television
Rethinking Technology for Real and Vitual
Virtual Reality (VR) is the virtualisation of the real environment to create a non-real world that exists only within the computer. VR generates extremely realistic and vivid virtual things through computer technology and allows viewers to interact with various things in the virtual world in a natural way through special input and output devices to achieve a perceptual experience and a deep sense of immersion. The visual environment generated by VR technology is three-dimensional, and the sound effects are also three-dimensional, ensuring a realistic sense of human-computer interaction and a high level of immersion and interactivity.
Virtual reality is making its way into almost every industry. From medicine to education to gaming and fashion. Movie studios are also increasingly experimenting with this unique technology to enhance the experience of users within digital environments.
With global lockdown measures keeping billions of people at home, sales of VR headsets have skyrocketed in 2020. Last year, the number of shipments for AR / VR devices reached a stunning 5.5 million, and that figure double by the end of 2021.
Needless to say, entertainment companies have been looking at VR as a possible way to bring real-life emotions to digital environments. PlayStation is a perfect example of how companies keep betting big on this technology. The PSVR currently retails at $299, down from a 2016 launch price tag of $399. The company has expanded its library of VR games from the good old Star Wars Battlefront to the most recent VR-exclusive titles like Beat Saber, and Blood & Truth.
As most theaters remain shut, movie studios are looking for alternatives to provide viewers a cinematic experience from the comfort and safety of their homes. Apps like Bigscreen — a VR software solution that recreates cinema’s “big screens” — or Netflix VR are already trying to capture growing demand in this still nascent niche.
VR technology will not only affect the traditional way of watching films and TV shows, but will also drive changes in the way people consume entertainment. VR technology offers people the possibility to interact and dialogue with the world and to perceive it in its full dimension. As a new technology, VR technology has brought many questions and thoughts to the academic community: Does VR technology bring a new approach to film and television aesthetics? Is the traditional critical theory of film and television applicable to the critique of VR film and television, and is the audiovisual language of VR independent of traditional forms of film and television expression?
Based on VR technology, I will explore the issue of the audiovisual language of VR film and television technology from the perspectives of technical aesthetics, documentary aesthetics and immersive experience, and re-examine the issue of authenticity and virtuality of film and television media expression.