Via Cnet.com:
Imagine if you could have been there, standing next to the Star Wars villain Darth Vader as he told Luke Skywalker, “I am your father.” Well, it’s further off than you might think.
Lucasfilm, the Walt Disney division behind the hit space-saga movies, has been working with virtual reality technology for years, seeing the promise in letting moviegoers strap on a headset that transports them into a computer-generated world. Like many other enthusiasts, Lucasfilm executives see the potential in allowing people to look around as if they’re actually in the movie.
But there’s a hitch: Directors tend to change camera positions in movies rapidly, particularly in an action sequence where they want to depict a fight from different perspectives, or a battle from opposing sides. Most VR technology is designed to be stationary, particularly to protect viewers from motion sickness.
In a presentation Wednesday at the Oculus Connect developer conference here, Rob Bredow, vice president of new media at Lucasfilm, said the company is focusing most of its efforts on building short yet immersive experiences. Imagine a five-minute movie where you can fly around in a spaceship, or explore what’s happening in an alien city while intergalactic soldiers hunt for a robot carrying critical information.
“We’re interested in what the right length is,” he said. “We certainly haven’t solved all the things we need to solve.”
In the meantime, he said, Lucasfilm has begun using many VR technologies, headed up by a team called ILMxLAB, to enhance its filmmaking capabilities. One tool the company created helps directors scout future movie sets, while another lets them see rough drafts of what an actor on a green screen stage looks like when they’re put into a computer-generated world.
What’s so attractive about the technology, Bredow said, is that it’s so simple to use. “You don’t have to teach somebody to use this,” he said. “You can just explore.”
The filmmaker’s efforts to expand into virtual reality mark the most dramatic VR demonstrations yet from a major media company. Over the past three years since the startup Oculus announced its Rift headset, the VR industry has grown substantially. Major technology companies ranging from smartphone makers like Samsung and HTC to Internet giants like Facebook and Google have announced their own versions of VR devices, some of which will be released later this year.
Film companies have also jumped on board, including Warner Bros., Lionsgate and Lucasfilm parent Walt Disney, which earlier this week said it invested in a 360-degree camera maker.
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