VR Cinema: Redesigning the Parables of Filmmaking

Leveraging VR technology to create unique and memorable cinematic experience could be the key to earning spectators' interest and respect in the digital age.

FREMONT, CA: Virtual Reality (VR) is creating a splash in the film industry in many ways. To understand how VR technology might change filmmaking, a broader understanding of the technology is needed. VR technology has an impact on video games, TV shows, and many other applications beyond entertainment. It is undoubtedly attractive for moviegoers. VR offers a full, immersive experience for viewers because it makes viewers feel more like protagonists, immersed in the landscape, the action, and right next to other characters in the movie.

Creating VR movies for the cinema is technically easier compared to traditional film making. While VR used to be that high-end features and new technologies are being introduced, today’s industry is a much different place for filmmakers.

While VR experiences are mostly accessible as short films, the mainstream filmmaking industry is taking steps to catch up with the momentum. There is also not much of a developed market yet for VR film exhibition in the conventional home video sense. Therefore, having VR films will in the exhibition and all will allow the industry to see the movie as they were meant to be seen and hopefully find ways to get the film out later. These festivals and exhibitions also offer a platform for VR filmmakers that they could never get otherwise.

More than anything, film festivals represent the film as an essential art rather than a purely commercial product. Due to this, for filmmakers looking to validate a new medium through VR, there’s no better place to start. The primary reason VR films are being taken seriously has less to do with the resources but more to do with the substantial promotion these films are getting through the various film festivals.

It is vital to remember that technological innovation can bring impressive outcomes in the cinema industry. Keeping audiences engaged requires good content. For VR to thrive, filmmakers need to take it seriously, shaping critically and commercially viable movies that will keep audiences coming back for more.