Director James Cameron has long been at the forefront of new developments in film technology. His work on The Abyss pioneered several new techniques involving computer generated imagery, and Avatar was at the forefront of the new wave of 3D cinema, with new technologies being developed for use in the making of that film. However, Cameron remains somewhat sceptical of current virtual reality (VR) technology.
In an interview with YouTube channel Beerdy, Cameron said: “Our method of authoring Avatar involves working in VR, so I work in VR all day every day. Whether a new art-form – a new form of cinema – that’s interactive can be created? I’m waiting for it to manifest.”
However, Cameron later makes it clear he does have an interest in VR technology: “If so much of my bandwidth wasn’t taken up with Avatar, I would be experimenting with VR.” He says, explaining that much of his attention at present is dedicated to his work on the sequels to his 2009 sci-fi film Avatar.
He also clarifies that he doesn’t believe that ‘true’ VR is currently available, and that current definitions for VR tend to refer more to 360-degree films and omnidirectional camera setups. Cameron said he thinks that true VR won’t be possible until full movement and exploration is possible within the virtual space, something that some room-scale videogame titles such as Echo Arena, among others, have already begun to experiment with.
“It takes 100 hours of a massive render farm to do a single frame of an Avatar movie. Show me that in real-time in VR, and that will be what I’ll call true VR.” he said.
You can view the interview clip below.
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James Camera is one of Hollywood’s most celebrated directors, best known for Titanic, and Avatar, two of the world’s top grossing films. He’s also been an evangelist of technological innovation in cinema production. Despite past skepticism, Cameron’s latest thoughts on VR show that he’s coming around to the idea, but still taking a pragmatic look.
Speaking during a recent interview surrounding the upcoming re-release of Terminator 2: Judgement Day 3D, Cameron notes that he’s well beyond the buzz of VR thanks to the virtual camera production techniques he employs.
Look I think… you know VR is kind of a yawn to me because I’ve been… our method of authoring the Avatar films… I work in a VR environment all day every day. When I finished with these interviews, I’m going to go work in VR for the rest of the day. Whether a new artform, a new form of cinema, that’s interactive can be created… I’m waiting for it to manifest.
Cameron clearly appreciates the difference between simple 360 video and more immersive VR video rendered in real-time, and suggests that most people in his circles are conflating the two. Clearly, he’d like to work with the latter.
I will tell you that if I wasn’t making the Avatar [sequels] and that wasn’t taking up so much of my bandwidth, I would be experimenting around with VR. Now what most people are calling VR right now isn’t VR. It’s really omnidirectional camera. And because you don’t really have any spatial control—any spatial movement is baked in—you [only] have the ability to look around in an environment, and that’s not true VR. [In] true VR, you can move around. And you have a lot of control over where you are spatially in the environment.
Though game engines are becoming increasingly capable, rendering a film with the visual complexity of Avatar isn’t possible today in real-time, Cameron notes. When that time comes, he’s ready to jump in.
But to do [real-time interactive VR] to a level of the kind of images we have in Avatar, I think that’s… several generations of technology away. It takes 100 hours of a massive render farm to do a single frame of an Avatar movie. So we’re decades away from being able to render at that level in real-time. Or maybe it’s a decade… whatever. But show me that and then I’ll say, let’s make movies in true VR.
20th Century Fox’s Interactive Entertainment and theme park arm FoxNext is building a 2000 sq. ft free-roaming multiplayer VR experience set in the world of the Alien movie franchise.
The Alien movie franchise is among the most enduring in history, with very entry re-imagining a universe that was conceived almost 40 years ago with the latest, Alien: Covenant, in theatres right now. Yes the series has been a mixed bag from a critical perspective, but there’s a good chance that if you’re reading this, you grew up loving the 1986 sequel to Ridley Scott’s masterful 1979 original, Aliens, directed by James Cameron. If you’re nodding your head in enthusiastic agreement while reading this, then I’ve got some great news for you.
FoxNext is a new division of 20th Century Fox comprising FoxNext Destinations, FoxNext Games and FoxNext VR Studio. FoxNext Destinations (focused on out of home entertainment, theme parks etc.), have shown off a proof of concept virtual reality experience for a large scale multi-player virtual reality experience. According to the Hollywood Reporter who snagged a sneak peek at the POC, this experience is the proving ground for a 2000 sq. ft. attraction including “specially-created prop guns with haptic effects and hand tracking.” And, perhaps inspired by the pioneering work by The Void, the experience will also integrate motion platforms, heat, mist and “physical elements” to bring the virtual headset delivered imagery to life. Although not confirmed, it does sound like the experience may be weapons oriented, with a chance that the experience may veer towards an Aliens (rather then Alien) setting. A prospect which Cameron may not relish given his public criticism of VR in the past.
“FoxNext was created to support our motion pictures and with the view that technology is creating an opportunity for us to really revolutionize the way stories will be told in the future,” FoxNext president Salil Mehta told The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s enormous innovation occurring that allows real interactive storytelling, and we created divisions to focus on games, VR and location-based entertainment. We’re trying to define the best ways to create content for each.”
FoxNext is working with iP2 Entertainment and Pure Imagination Studios to build the technology behind the experience and, at this early stage, it seems that the teams are using Samung Gear VR headsets connected via “iP2’s proprietary wireless VR technology”, presumably with the help of some form large scale (i.e. industrial motion capture) rig for tracking both props and headsets. Whether this would remain the case for the full-developed version of the experience is unknown at this time, but in terms of content the report states that “volumetric capture techniques” were used to produce it, perhaps for scans of the physical set to be brought into VR.
This writer absolutely was one of the aforementioned who did grow up loving Alien and Aliens, and the (albeit tentative) prospect of being able to step into boots of a colonial marine, handed an M41A pulse rifle and taking the fight to the Xenomorph fills me with more childish glee than I’m prepared to own up to.
Convincing the biggest names in the gaming industry to get into VR is going to be tough, largely because of the relatively low install base of most headsets in comparison to more mainstream devices like consoles and smartphones. Filmmakers, however, can look at the tech from another angle.
Yes, it’s still expensive to make 360-degree VR movies and other content, but VR movies might end up being driven by more accessible means like the location-based cinematic pods that IMAX is setting up. They can also run on mobile VR, a platform that already has millions of users across Gear VR, Google Cardboard and Daydream.
Unlike games, then, many of the biggest names in film have already spoken up about VR. Here’s what they had to say.
Steven Spielberg
As far as making big budget blockbusters that are beloved by the world over go, you don’t get much bigger than Steven Spielberg’s Jaws, Indiana Jones, E.T., and countless other properties. You’ll know that VR’s made it when he’s making VR films but, at least until then, he is making one about the industry.
Spielberg is currently working on an adaptation of Ready Player One, a sci-fi novel that’s practically recommended reading for VR enthusiasts. That said he has made some troubling comments in the past, stating that he thinks the freedom VR gives viewers might be “dangerous” for film making. He is working on a VR project too, though, so let’s see if that sways him.
Guillermo Del Toro
With films as celebrated as Pan’s Labyrinth, you might think Guillermo Del Toro is too big for VR right now. But the director also showed his blockbuster side with Pacific Rim, and he actually used VR to help him with it.
In the past, Del Toro has confessed his love for VR technology. Several of his most recent films, including Crimson Peak, have had accompanying VR experiences. If we were to bet that anyone would make a full VR movie in the near future, our money would be on Del Toro.
James Cameron
James Cameron has the two biggest grossing movies of all time under his belt with Titanic and Avatar, and the latter was a technical marvel too. With Cameron having revolutionized 3D and CG technology in Avatar and set to give us more of it with the upcoming sequels, you’d think he would be excited by the prospect of VR. Sadly, that’s not quite the case.
Cameron is the only person on this list that’s been almost entirely critical of VR so far. Most recently he claimed that any narrative art form that emerged from the tech could not be classed as a movie. Before that, he called it boring. Oh well, no Avatar VR for you.
Eli Roth
If you’ve ever come back from the theatre and had a nightmare in the past decade or so, there’s a good chance it was induced by one of Eli Roth’s gore-filled terrors. Here’s a director that doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to harming his characters, as best seen in the memorably disgusting Hostel. We’re not sure we’d want to see something like that in VR, but we might just get it anyway.
Last year Roth posted a picture of himself using an early HTC Vive developer kit, joking that he loved the experience so much he might stop making movies altogether. So, who knows? You might soon have a VR experience where someone is slicing out your tongue or something equally horrific. Resident Evil 7 already comes pretty close, though.
The Russo Brothers
You might not recognize the names Joe and Anthony Russo right now, but there’s a good chance you will in a years’ time. The directors have become known by Marvel fans for making two of the better most recent superhero films in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and its sequel, Civil War. Next year, however, they take the reigns of the Avengers franchise too, and they want VR to be a part of it.
Last year, we reported that the Russo brothers were looking into how VR might play a part in the upcoming Marvel mega event. They branded the tech as “pretty incredible”, saying it would change how people understood movies. That’s ambitious, and we can’t wait to see what comes of it.
Justin Lin
If Justin Lin is making a movie these days there’s a good chance that plenty of explosions will follow. Just look at his Fast and Furious films, or his action-packed take of the Star Trek franchise in Star Trek Beyond. But would the director ever bring his brand of explosions to VR? Actually, he already has.
Lin was the director of one of Google’s 360 degree spotlight stories, released last year. HELP is an action-packed monster driven adventure with production values rarely seen in the technology thus far. Don’t miss it.
J.J. Abrams
J.J. Abrams is very good at making things big again, be it Star Trek, Star Wars, or even Mission: Impossible. The director/writer has a penchant for creating likable, loveable movies that relate to a global audience. That’s the kind of person you want making VR films.
Abrams is both excited and cautious of VR tech, though, knowing just how immersive it can be but also the strain it puts on long-form entertainment. He thinks some experiences will work best in VR while others wouldn’t work at all. But he’s happy the industry is figuring it out, and that’s what’s really important.
Jon Favreau
Recently it seems like everything Favreau touches turns to gold. He kick started the Marvel Cinematic Universe with 2008’s Iron Man and his recent live action adaptation of The Jungle Book has been so successful that Disney has handed him the keys to a similar, but much more prominent kingdom in the form of The Lion King. He’s a busy man to say the least but, in his spare time, Faverau is already doing something magical with VR.
The director is working with Wevr on Gnomes & Goblins, one of the most intriguing VR experiences for the HTC Vive to date. It’s not a 360 movie but instead a full room-scale VR experience that could signify what VR movies may one day really be like. We can’t wait for it to grow into something bigger.
