Virtually Blooming Animation

by+Hu+Zhoumeng

This years Venice International Film Festival was a boon to virtual reality （VR） content providers worldwide： The time-honored festival announced the first-ever competition for films made in VR. A total of 22 VR movies were nominated， including two VR animated films from China—Free Whale and The Dream Collector. The nominations helped the creators of these films attain greater popularity in their home country and the films be more widely enjoyed. Despite ups and downs in recent years， producers are still riding the VR wave in hopes of emerging as one of the first heavyweights of the new medium.

Melding Tech and Art

“When the whale jumps out of the water， it looks so real，” exclaimed Lou Yanxins parents after watching Free Whale. The animated VR film was the first production of Sandman Studios， which Lou founded. Most of the 11 people in the company were born in the 1990s and accrued rich experience in areas like gaming and dramatic production. However， lacking experience shooting live-action films， they decided to create VR animation with computer graphics （CG） technology.

According to Lou， it is hard to explain the VR experience； one must personally experience it. “My colleagues and I went all-in on the industry after our first VR experience，” declares Lou.

The 3D content produced in VR can have much greater potential than 2D and provide more space for creators. “Traditional movies provide a comparatively fixed angle of view since each shot focuses in only one direction，” explains Lou. “A VR film is more like a theatrical play in which four or five characters move simultaneously. Moreover， spectators feel like part of the play rather than removed from it.”

The immersive VR experience can enhance sensory pleasure， but at the same time， divert the audiences attention. Shooting and editing techniques of traditional films are no longer applicable to VR animation. Filmmakers are still working hard to explore new techniques and rules for VR movies.

Free Whale features a single shot throughout the entire animated film， which allows viewers to closely track the motions of the lead character. The Dream Collector adopts a three-act structure， and the screen goes black at the end of an act.

The development of a more interactive experience has made VR more immersive， but such technology hasnt yet been seized by VR animators due to their need for a consistent storyline. At first， Free Whale was designed to let the audience touch the whale on the screen to switch to a firstperson point-of-view as the lead character meets the whale for the first time. However， the feature only confused the audience. Ultimately， the final version abandoned interactive elements altogether.endprint