Every summer when the summer is drawing to a close, Venice, the city of water, will welcome a large wave of movie practitioners. This year's 73rd Venice International Film Festival, in addition to the promulgation of various awards, also pays attention to the creative display: during the film festival, a 40-minute clipped version of the VR work “Jesus VR-The Story of Christ†will be shown.
This is what kind of VR movie?
As early as June, this VR work received attention. The length of the entire work is 90 minutes, which is equal to the length of the movie we see today. It was jointly produced by the Toronto Film and Television production company Autumn Production and the Los Angeles VR company VRWERX, using a 360-degree 4K screen.
Just like the title of the film, this work has a strong religious atmosphere and tells the story of Jesus' life. The audience will be brought back to 2000 years ago to witness the life and death of Jesus, from baptism to the sabbath of the mountain, from the last supper to the crucifixion, and to personally experience the life experience of Jesus. Obviously, it is reminiscent of the 2004 Passion of the Christ, and the location of the film was also selected by Matera of Italy. Enzo Sisti, the then producer, and William Fulco, the religious adviser, were also involved in the production of Jesus VR. .
The film will be launched on Christmas Day for major VR platforms including Oculus, HTC VIve, PlayStation VR, Gear VR, and Cardboard. The screening at the Venice Film Festival is mainly aimed at expanding awareness.
For film festival organizers, they also encourage good ideas. Alberto Barbera, director of the 73rd Venice Film Festival, said:
"We are very happy to have the opportunity to present the world's first full movie using VR technology. At present, it seems that VR technology is limited to short films, and "Jesus VR" will show the technology in film narrative and drama. potential."
At the same time, he also stated that this year the Venice Film Festival opened the Venice Production Bridge unit. In the 40 financing projects that included films, documentaries, television series and net dramas, they selected 6 VR projects because of the Venice Film Festival. I hope to show some works that have made major changes to the film production.
Developed the VRWERX of the "farest horrible" VR game to date
Although this is an investment made by a traditional film production company, it can be seen from partners that the start-up company VRWERX may mainly provide VR technical support. The company is located in Los Angeles and is dedicated to VR game development, 360-degree content production and distribution. We may be a little unfamiliar with the company's name, but their previous work has been described by IGN as "the most horrible VR game ever" - and "Fashion Record" has a high reputation.
In October last year, VRWERX collaborated with Paramount Pictures and AMC Cinemas to create a VR version of the Game of Fantasy. At that time, it was more likely to be promoted with the movie "Ghost Story: Ghost Story". There was only one demo that could use HTC Vive to experience the strange world where ghosts and ghosts could be seen everywhere. The "unprecedented" horror experience was what VRWERX wanted to achieve. purpose. The game was officially launched this summer, and IGN organised a player experience event in April. Players were also intimidated by minutes.
90 minutes of VR movies face more challengesHowever, back to "Jesus VR", Lei Fengwang editor is full of expectations and some worry. The 90 minutes duration is naturally the most interesting place for this VR movie. After all, VR video is quite a lot at present, but the majority of the time is 5-10 minutes. The VR animation director Mi Lie once told Lei Fengwang (searching for "Lei Feng Net" public number attention) that for more than 10 minutes, the audience would be lost (the audience's attention was dispersed and could not keep up with the storyline). At present, VR videos released on LeTV and Youku are basically in compliance with 5-10 minutes. Therefore, VR this new medium can not carry the 90-minute film, but also leave doubt.
Somewhat worrying are some specific shooting issues. Shooting equipment, lighting, props, and costs are certainly a big challenge if they are all taken. This work, which cost a lot of money, was released. How can the cost be recovered? At present, the VR movie business model is still a blank space, or the producer may only want to try and be a Pathfinder.
Finally, the audience with VR glasses for 90 minutes, even 40 minutes, the eyes will not be tired?
However, this is indeed a news that people expect.