A little far from the heart of the Mostra del Cinema, on the island of Lazzaretto Vecchio, the VR section in its second edition but for the first time open to the public, has put together the forty different realities of the forty titles in vision.

Fourty visible titles and thirty in competition. The works were both linear and interactive, filmed in 360, completely computer generated or immersive installations.

If you have not been able to see them in Venice, do not despair because most of the titles will be visible until October 8, 2018 at the VRroom platform, at no cost, just by downloading the app and creating an account in the platform from mobile (iOS, Android, even with Daydream) or from VR headset (Oculus, HTC Vive or GearVR).

https://vrroom.buzz/vr-news/entertainment/vrroom-debuts-xr-app-venice-vr-lineup

https://www.vrroom.buzz/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The prizes awarded by the festival jury dedicated to this section were the following:

the BEST PRIZE VR IMMERSIVE HISTORY to SPHERES by Eliza McNitt (USA, France)

the BEST VR EXPERIENCE AWARD for interactive content to BUDDY VR by Chuck Chae (Republic of Korea)

the BEST HISTORY PRIZE VR for linear content to L’ÎLE DES MORTS by Benjamin Nuel (France)

 

The trilogy of SPHERES was the most anticipated title and we must admit that did not disappoint the expectations: a journey to discover the cosmos during which you can interact and listen to the sound of stars and planets: science that becomes magic, thanks to the director Eliza Mcnitt at the first experience in vr, produced by Darren Aronofsky’s Protozoa.

The interesting and sweet experience of BUDDY VR, a Korean production, impeccable modeling and animation (like a Disney Pixar’s movie) in which the communication with Buddy, a mouse living in an amusement park kiosk, is entrusted exclusively to gestures.

L’ÎLE DES MORTS is an elegant and peaceful journey to the island of the dead, ferried from any city apartment to their final destination; free adaptation of the painted homonymous work by the Swiss symbolist Arnold Böcklin. The famous pictorial masterpiece has also inspired a symphonic poem by Rachmaninov, which becomes the soundtrack to accompany the experience. Modeling and animation are well made, especially the endless sea water in which you are floating.

ZHU ZHI CHENG VR (THE LAST ONE STANDING VR) shocking and totally immersive experience of the Chinese Jiwen Wang and Yang LiuWU: the viewer with headset and headphones is seated on a chair that reproduces the dynamism of the experience. The spectator is in fact catapulted in 2048 into a reality in which AI robots fight humans to conquer freedom; an experience very close to gaming, with perfect textures and reflections, that makes sweat and shake the player, to the point of nausea.

VR_I, a Swiss work out of competition, is a dance piece by Cie Gilles Jobin and Artanim. Five players at a time can fully immerse themselves and live their own digital avatar, thanks to a viewer, headphones and microphone to talk and be heard by other players, computer on board and sensors on their hands and feet. The whole story is focused on dancing, but some potentials are not fully exploited, such as the game of identity change or interaction with objects and people within the game. All things considered, however, it is a good experiment of total body virtual reality.

ROOMS, a 360 movie by the German director Christian Zipfel, makes the room protagonist, not only as a closed space between walls but as rules for regulating life in a stable community. The photography is awesome and everything has been filmed with the Nokia OZO 360 camera.

The last title we suggest to the lovers of dance is HALF LIFE VR, a Swedish production of a choreography by Sharon Eyal performed by the Swedish Royal Ballet, which explores the instrument of the 360 shooting to make the characters feel completely different from how you could do it at the theater or on television.

Virtual reality in Venice is no longer an extravagance: it is a market with a lot of potential to explore, a new path to be taken in the field of cinema, immersive artistic experiences and linked to the gaming world, until it reaches the architecture field, as our Im-Arch conference (in San Servolo-Venice) wants to represent.