Vancouver Virtual Reality Film Festival united creators with the curious

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      Featuring three-dimensional photography and stunning 360-visuals, the virtual reality (VR) film industry has been quietly growing for the past three years. Numerous filmmakers have embraced the medium across the globe, discovering new ways to tell their stories by immersing viewers inside the action. Despite that growing popularity, though, those who have experienced VR films are still in the minority.

      The Vancouver Virtual Reality Film Festival (YVRFF) aims to close that gap. Last weekend saw the second annual event open its doors to hundreds of interested individuals, offering a broad spectrum of movies from documentaries to interactive music videos. The only dedicated VR film festival in the world, the three-day showcase helped spotlight the work of local and international creators.

      The main crowd-pleasers included Blade Runner 2014: Memory Lab—a dark, single-player adventure that casts the viewer as a soon-to-be-reprogrammed replicant robot—and Coco VR, a colourful way for headset-wearers to explore the beautiful alebrije and cobbled streets of the Pixar movie. Snatch, too, proved a visitor favourite, telling the story of a real-life heist in London, while six-person immersive experience Chorus invited individuals to dance as virtual avatars to a song by the electronic group Justice.

      For Adam Rogers, executive producer of Chorus, the festival offered a chance to reach new audiences.

      Chorus is about six intergalactic female warriors, and it follows a loose narrative of women feeling empowered together,” he tells the Straight on the line from Vancouver. “There’s a massive green monster you have to fight, and the water starts flowing up around you, and giants cats are running alongside you. At the end your collective souls have overpowered the monster, and you’re all returned together to a place of happiness.

      “We wanted to create an experience that did justice to the song, and also pushed the boundaries,” he continues. “Something we recognized is that in 2018, we needed to get people to sit up and take note of the medium. Social VR is a cutting-edge technology that has really taken off, and it’s something that we wanted to plug into. It was important to us to get as many people in our headsets as possible together, and let them experience it all at the same time. It pushed the video to the next level.”

      YVRFF

      Connecting the growing local technology sector and the blossoming arts scene in Vancouver, the film festival bridged the gap between experienced headset-wearers and first timers. Drawing members of the public curious about the event as well as those looking to join the local VR industry, YVRFF presented a great opportunity to talk with those already working in the field. Offering insightful industry knowledge, filmmakers like Chris Bedyk—a cinematographer by trade—were able to field many questions about the power of 360-video.

      “Immersive films let you alter your perspective,” he tells the Straight. “You’re seeing through someone else’s eyes, and it can provide a fundamental shift if you are able to identify with what someone else is feeling. Through that medium, you can trigger empathy and understanding. If we’re talking about a documentary-style film where you are literally in the heart of a war-torn city, for example, the director is not able to translate that story to the person viewing it—they literally place you inside it. It’s an intriguing medium on multiple levels because it’s so transparent.”

      Spending a number of years pioneering new camera techniques, the cinematographer last year showed off his VR Wonders of the World movies at YVRFF—the first travel series that uses motion-controlled timelapse to record locations like the Grand Canyon and snowy landscapes illuminated by the northern lights. Last weekend, he was present to raise awareness of Mastering 360, a company he created to help local filmmakers transition into immersive filmmaking through workshops.

      “Virtual reality film festivals are really important,” he tells the Straight. “They’re fundamental to connect the creators, the investors, and the viewers that might not otherwise see them. We’re at a pivotal point where we’ve started to see more people interested in the technology. Some people might have seen 360-video through cardboard headsets, but it’s not as impactful as seeing it on the hardware that it’s designed for. Events like YVRFF let people put on the right gear, and see these films in a totally different way. It’s a gateway into another world.”

      Follow Kate Wilson on Twitter @KateWilsonSays

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