Market Potential of VR
It is nearly impossible to create VR films at an individual level in Korea because a commercial market has yet to develop. Specialized equipment and filmmaking skills are necessary, and there is no market to sell VR content even if one manages to make it. And so, many VR films are being created with state support in Korea.
PARK received assistance from the National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) for The Wish. Unlike the Korean Film Council’s production support programs, NIPA backs projects for research and development (R&D) purposes. The Wish is a piece resulting from a study on the capacity of live broadcasting VR content and a project for developing a VR application.
Making a VR Film
The VR filmmaking process is markedly different from traditional filmmaking methods. 2D filming is not compatible with the medium, which must be shot in 360 degrees. It is possible to shoot in 2D, but images become extremely distorted. One must film scenes in both 3D and 360 degrees in order to achieve more depth, hence creating a more convincing virtual reality.
The two KAFA films were created through much experimentation with 3D and 360-degree filmmaking. Reawakening of Memories is a sci-fi thriller about a cop who tries to solve a murder case by logging into the brain of a dead person and accessing his last memories. For this project, filming in 3D was necessary to fully utilize the diverse elements of the VR medium.
Eyes in the Red Wind, on the other hand, features a shamanic ritual taking place on a boat. This was filmed in 3D using a cablecam, which helped minimize motion sickness for viewers. Both Bloodless and The Wish were shot entirely in 3D. Not surprisingly, companies that have largely specialized in researching and/or producing 3D formats such as Venta VR have gone onto tackle the VR content business. It is thus necessary for VR filmmakers to become well-versed in the characteristics and concepts behind established technologies such as 3D, 4DX, IMAX, and ScreenX. If conventional film formats were developed in order to provide immersive experiences for audiences sitting inside cinemas, then VR tries to place viewers inside a theater of his or her very own. And so, the sense of immersion, interaction and spatiality can be fully maximized inside the viewer's personal cinema.
In addition to the technical issues related to VR projects, storytelling is another source of concern for local VR filmmakers. The technical limitations and characteristics of VR make it impossible to tell stories in the narrative grammar of traditional films. The same goes for video game creators trying to tackle VR technology. Cinema can be called the art of editing frames and crafting time, and transforming this into VR requires a much more sophisticated approach.
“Cinema is the frame, cinema is the length of the lens, cinema is editing, the position of images that create time and space,” Inarritu said about his VR installation Carne y Arena. “Virtual reality, even when it's visual, is exactly all what cinema is not.” As such, the storytelling must be designed with such features in mind.
There are currently two notable big-budget VR-related projects underway in other countries. In China, LIU Cixin's Hugo Award-winning sci-fi novel The Three-Body Problem is being turned into a three-part space opera. The film features a sequence in which the protagonist wears a head-mounted display (HMD) in order to move into another space. In Hollywood, Steven Spielberg is helming Ready Player One based on the novel by Ernest Cline. Set in the year 2044, it is about uncovering the secrets of a giant VR game called Oasis. However, it is important to note that neither title is a VR film; they are simply conventional movies featuring elements of VR.
It is worth imagining how certain stories could be turned into VR formats, such reinterpreting the non-linear structure and time elements of Memento or the multiple perspectives of Rashomon. Technological problems or platform restrictions currently at hand will eventually be solved over time. Rather, it is a matter of solid and sensible storytelling that would allow VR technology to shine in the near future.