When it comes to virtual reality content, there’s something for everyone. Whether you want to race through a course in an Indy car or walk down spooky halls for a good suspense game, solo VR experiences can be thrilling. But one worry for some is that virtual reality can be an isolating experience. Although this will soon change as we start to get more social VR experiences from the likes of Oculus, two San Francisco filmmakers are out to make their VR film a shared experience.
Independent filmmakers, Kip Andersen and Keegan Kuhn, co-directors of Netflix film Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, debuted their virtual reality short film Parallaxed to over 70 attendees on October 15, in San Francisco. Instead of taking a more “standard” approach of slapping VR headsets on participants and letting them watch the film solo, they were instead given a simultaneous group screening.
Watching Parallaxed in unison
By partnering up with Two Bit Circus and utilizing the company’s sync technology, all viewers collectively watched the horror thriller on a Samsung Gear VR headset in unison. Because all the video was synced, the need for individual headphones was unnecessary and was instead replaced with a communal 5.1 surround sound setup around the participants. In what the filmmakers are calling a “theatrical group screening,” viewers were able to hear others in the theater screaming out loud, definitely adding some nervousness to the experience.
VRScout wrote about another multi-user synced VR experience at Comic-Con earlier this year for the suspense television show The Strain. So it would appear that when it comes to jumping out of your seat in a shared experience, frightening is the way to go.
If you are interested in checking out Parallaxed and following the story of a young woman navigate some thrilling moments, you can download the 360 VR app from the Google Play store.
Image Credit: Premo VR
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