philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

At Tribeca Film Festival, Virtual Reality Attempts To Subvert Our Expectations

But even as VR bubbles up yet again with a legitimately astonishing (and astonishingly user-friendly) product in the Oculus Quest, few people are still talking about VR with the same fervor and sense of inevitability that they once did just a couple of years ago.

To put it plainly: Freed from just about any commercial expectations, VR creators are doing some downright amazing things.

So what is new and now in VR this year? If the exhibitions at Tribeca are any indication, it's the use of the tech to subvert our expectations about storytelling in ways that make things feel personal and real in surprising ways.

Take The Key (created by Celine Tricart and narrated by Search Party's Alia Shawkat), which won the festival's Grand Jury Prize for Best Virtual Reality Immersive Story. Like some of the more ambitious VR projects from last year’s Tribeca film fest, The Key features elements of immersive theater via the use of a live actor.

By luring us in with a sci-fi conceit, and then stripping away this layer, going through The Key feels almost as if you are awakened from a dream, only to find a nightmare in the real world.

Another highlight from Tribeca was Bonfire, produced by Baobab Studios, which has quickly established a reputation for producing high-end VR experiences with computer animation that rivals theatrical releases from Pixar and Dreamworks (it's no coincidence that co-founder Eric Darnell was the guy behind the Madagascar movies). 

As Bonfire begins, you (isn’t it great that VR can be written about in the second person?) find yourself marooned on an alien planet with nothing but a robotic servant to keep you company. Soon a strange (and highly adorable) alien approaches, leaving you free to interact with it as you please.

It may not be obvious, but your actions really do matter here. Depending on how you act towards the alien (Do you feed it? Taunt it? Play with it?), the creature treats you differently, and the story forks in ways both subtle and obvious.

Under the hood, Bonfire was built with advanced AI engine that allows the alien creature to respond to your behavior in ways that feel natural—all while driving the narrative around your actions.

Bonfire is also a clever deconstruction of the typical narrative format. If you’ve ever read a screenwriting book (or simply seen a lot of movies), you know that most stories involve characters going on a journey and coming out the other side changed in some fundamental way. ... What makes Bonfire so interesting is that you (again: the second person!) are the lead character who is forced to learn and adapt, before making a fateful decision which I won't spoil here. Academically speaking, this is fascinating. And from a pure experience level, it’s a joy. You aren’t rooting for some distant hero to do the right thing—you’re pulling that lever yourself.

See the full story here: https://www.forbes.com/sites/sethporges/2019/05/06/at-tribeca-film-festival-virtual-reality-attempts-to-subvert-our-expectations/#4bc29906921a