By Greg Dolgopolov
There is a flood of VR showcases, festivals and presentations happening right now. 360 Vision 2017, Kaleidoscope Showcase 2.0, and coming up is Convergence.
Last Thursday saw the 360 Vision 2017 presented by Screen NSW, ABC, Screen Australia, City of Sydney, AFTRS and Carriageworks. This event brought together some of the best Australian and international screen producers, directors, theatre practitioners and artists to meet with key VR content and production studios and professionals. It was a day of talks and being inspired by new possibilities. There is a hunger for new content and new stories and production process is no longer a huge barrier. For some from the traditional arts it was an opportunity to have high tech apprehensions discarded because of the opportunities for collaboration with already established studios with a slate of well-developed projects.
The VR Lab included screenings of innovative new VR work, a good range of speakers and panel discussions. There was an opportunity to sample new and established work. The more interesting projects were the ones that were showcasing proof of concept – they were not yet finished and the ideas were sharp and raw.
The following day and seemingly disconnected but also at Carriageworks was the Kaleidoscope Showcase Volume 2. Last year it was staged in Melbourne. This year it was in a smaller space and not as overwhelming. Perhaps because it is often such a personal interaction, a huge inhibitor for a satisfying VR experience was the lengthy queuing. Having said that it is essential to have breaks between VR interactions as they do tend to be powerful and intense experiences. One that had a particularly strong impact because of its newsworthiness was a CNN VR report on The Day of the Sun celebrations in North Korea – the country’s largest annual celebration. From the vantage point of a simple 360 camera you could see with good detail thousands of people dancing in unison to celebrate the Kim dynasty. It was an inside look into a country that is at once mysterious and also potentially on the brink of an attack; and yet life seems to go on as usual and the VR vantage point provided an intimate look inside.
Most compelling and with the largest queue was real-time interactive experience LIFE OF US by Aaron Koblin and the visionary Chris Milk. If the server hadn’t crashed at the last moment the user would have been inside a strange and dynamic world with a partner sharing the experience interactively. Instead, the user was left to fend for oneself in this kinetic vision of evolution of life on Earth. LIFE OF US is one of the first narrative VR experiences to place multiple people inside a shared virtual space. If it had worked as intended, it would have been insane. Nonetheless, it was an incredible, unforgettable experience.
If you missed all this VR activity and are hungry to experience cutting edge virtual reality you still have an opportunity as part of the Convergence Festival at Event Cinemas George Street this Wednesday May 3, 2017.
The Convergence Film Festival combines CinematicVR with big screen entertainment. The festival has been developed in conjunction with the Byron Bay Film Festival team, presenting a mixture of the latest in VR as well as more traditional on-screen content – short films, animations, VFX and short documentaries exploring the potential of this emerging technology.
Virtual Reality will touch all areas of entertainment and communication in the years to come – and this special Convergence event will give you the opportunity to experience a number of different types of VR – both through the range of hardware and headsets you’ll try and the experiences – ranging from adrenaline-pumping Sports VR, gaming and immersive play; animated and live-action VR experiences for Kids & Families (10 years and up) to some of the most engaging Cinematic VR and Interactive experiences available right now. A highlight of the Festival is your opportunity to dive into the future with Mixed Reality and the Hololens Experience.
The presentations are organised around themed sessions – SportsVR; Cinematic, etc, so you can try a range of focused experiences. Convergence will screen some of the World’s Best Movies with VR content, games, animations, VFX and Short Films with tech narratives or VR content covering “science fact” (previously science fiction) to get even the most non-geeky person excited about the future.
Wednesday 3 May, 2017. Each VR session runs for 45 minutes; each big screen session runs for 1 hour. Ticket are $10 Kids (10yrs to 16yrs) / $15 adults. VR Experiences will start from 12 noon and run until 7.45pm. More info here. TICKETS HERE
