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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1384448
Projects such as Half-Life: Alyx are gaining increasing attention with people who are interested in saving the earth. In Half-Life, you’re directly involved and see/feel how your efforts fail or succeed. It easily becomes not just a story but reality for the viewer/player/participant. Roger Ascher’s A Glitch in the Matrix was just one of a number of VR films from Argentina, Poland and the US shown at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. The documentary fit neatly into people’s concern today as to what is reality and what is simulation. The documentary explains that everything from the chair you’re in, the thoughts in your head and the people you interact with can be reduced to lines of code. A Glitch in the Matrix is a mix of philosophy, sci-fi and religion without making you understand the direction or ultimate answer. Ascher makes it easy to question which world is real and which is simply human error. If you want to stream it and test your own version of reality, A Glitch in the Matrix is available on iTunes, Amazon Prime, Vudu and Google Play. Thanks to film festivals like Sundance, we’re reminded that filmmakers and Hollywood are still in love with VR and the technology has the potential for being a video story game changer. The Consumer Technology Association (CTA) and the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) recently released a report that optimistically says the future of VR depends on quality content. The breadth of genres that can be adapted to the technology to generate content creation that can be monetized really isn’t limited. In addition, it can be enhanced to make long-form storytelling more viewable, more viable. Considerable experimentation and testing have been done – prior to the shutdown – with live sporting events and concerts. In fact, a number of franchise holders and promoters see these two venues becoming even more popular as the world emerges from the pandemic. Perhaps largely because of the past year and people’s desire/need to escape and change scenery, VR has grown quite a bit. Social sites like Altspace, VRchat and BigScreen have become gathering points where people develop/share new content and provide constructive feedback. Part of the problem as Peddie and Poppin will quickly point out is that platforms such as Fortnite have become pseudo-VR venues for concerts and large virtual gatherings. Travis Scott’s concert drew more than 12M viewers. Animal Crossing has become a quarantine hit. People are using Zoom and video-chat apps to hold “virtual” game nights, cocktail parties and yoga classes on their devices. Nice but they really aren’t real VR immersive experiences. Perhaps though they are the bridge activities Peddie feels people need to realize it’s time to cross the chasm and fully enter immersive games and movies. Ultimately, VR will enable creatives to help viewers experience content from a personal perspective and make it their own. It sure will beat a 3D version of our kid’s first-person shooter. Then folks will be able to experience it all and know The Sixth Sense’s Malcolm Crowe meant them when he said, “Hey... you are not a freak. Don’t you believe anybody that tries to convince you of that. You don’t have to go through your life believing that.” It’ll be a great break from the boring reality we just experienced.