Oculus
VR, the Facebook-owned company behind the Oculus Rift, announced Monday
that it was developing films for the virtual reality headset. The first
movie from its Oculus Story Studio is a short one called “Lost,” which
stars a robot.
Oculus is exhibiting the film for attendees of this year’s Sundance Film Festival
in Utah. “Lost” comes from Oculus and former Pixar animator Saschka
Unseld, director of the 2013 photo-realistic short “The Blue Umbrella."
“Lost” is the first of four film to be released in 2015 by
Oculus Story Studio, and is built for the Crescent Bay version of the
Rift, an internal prototype that's lighter than the versions currently
sold to developers and tracks a user’s movements. The film lasts between
roughly four and 10 minutes, based on the viewer’s actions, Unseld told
The Verge.
Oculus created its Story Studio, it says, to
showcase the
Oculus Rift to Hollywood executives, highlighting the headset’s possible
uses in storytelling. The company plans to release a film depicting a
bullfight, one about a hedgehog preoccupied with balloons and another
from Unseld called “Dear Angelica.”
“Oculus is being cautious with "Lost," setting expectations
quite low, and it’s very clear that these experiences are currently
best done in short bursts; we’re far away from half-hour or movie-length
virtual reality stories,” wrote Bryan Bishop, a reporter for The Verge
who was given a demonstration of the film. “But the truth is 'Lost' is the most complete VR narrative that’s been created thus far.”
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