Feature: Virtual Reality's potential draws interest at Venice Film Festival

The potential of Virtual Reality technology drew interest here at the 73rd Venice Film Festival, as the first ever feature-long VR film was showed for four days in a row.

Among major film festivals, Venice was the first this year to set up a small VR theatre, outside which public and media professionals cued to watch the 40-minutes preview of "Jesus VR -- The Story of Christ."

Seated on dozens of white rotating chairs allowing a 360-degree view, and with headsets on, spectators experienced the screening of seven different scenes of the feature.

Giggles in the room were common, especially at the beginning, as each viewer could test the most bizarre feeling of being inside the film, and outside it watching, at the same time.

The position of the camera in the VR film was fixed, and the viewer shared the same perspective. Yet, one could revolve on the spot any time during the movie, and have a completely different vision: no angle in each scene was impeded.

It could happen that one was looking at one's back, or trying to catch details of some trees wrapped up in darkness.

The "freedom" of wandering with the sight was such that several viewers reported feeling dizzy at certain moments during the screening.

Jesus VR would be the first 90-minute-long VR film to be possibly released in cinemas, according to the production.

Besides the movie itself, however, it was the technology, and the new entertainment chances it might provide, to arouse debate among professionals at Venice.

Earlier this year, Festival director Alberto Barbera had explained the project was meant to show "the new platform's narrative and technological potential, which has been so far limited to short movies."

"The presentation is particularly important, since this year our Venice Production Bridge film market will launch six VR projects among the 40 proposed audio-visual products in search of financing, alongside movies, documentaries, TV series and web series," Barbera added at that time.

Chinese professionals also held a special forum on Virtual Reality during "Focus on China", a special two-day event promoted by Italy's National Association of Cinematographic Audiovisual Multimedia Industries (ANICA) with the support of Xinhuanet, the Italian Culture Ministry, and ICE-Italian Trade Agency (ITA) in the opening phase of Venice.

Chinese speakers addressed various aspects of the VR technology, including what makes it different from traditional filmmaking.

A first and most clear distinction pertained to cinema expression, they explained. For example, where a traditional movie is based on a camera language constructed through montage, a VR film will offer an immersive experience including 360-degree panoramas.

A stronger visual impact, the immersive sound effects, and the chance for the audience to identify with the story from a first-person perspective, were other major differences, and possibly advantages, compared to traditional movies.

"The (Chinese) audience is no longer the same as it was a long time ago, and we should look at the future public," Pan Zhi, general manager at the European branch of Xinhuanet, said after the session.

"We could get these aspects to enter our industry," he added.

Speakers at the panel addressed possible creative problems of VR filmmaking: for example, the point of view would be constantly changing, and camera language restricted (as in Jesus VR, the camera position is fixed).

Furthermore, the film staff would need to be completely "out of the way" during shooting, since spectators must have a 360-degree view in all of the scenes.

Finally, because the audience can choose which angle of the scene watching, the movie plot could go missing easier than in a normal screening.

Yet, Chinese speakers also focused on new measures to understand feelings and experiences of the audience regarding film.

"We have no experience with that in Italy yet, but we can work together with other countries, such as the Netherlands, who might have already started on implementing it," Pan explained.

"In China, such new techniques might help make better stories, change the way of storytelling, and create a whole new movie model."

Finally, the VR technology looked appealing beyond the borders of the movie industry.

Indeed, Xinhuanet launched a VR/AR channel on its website in May, and aimed at building a VR research and development team to further strengthen the understanding of its possible applications, including VR video reporting. Endit