Category Archives: Wall stickies

Blast from the recent XR past: a VR DAYS 2020 Article

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CENTRE STAGE

TOBY COFFEY, HEAD OF THE NATIONAL THEATRE’S IMMERSIVE STORYTELLING STUDIO, LOOKS FOR ‘A SYMBIOTIC RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN TECHNOLOGY AND STORYTELLING’. MOMCHIL ALEXIEV INTERVIEWS HIM ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE PERFORMING ARTS.

How does the National Theatre in London transform performances into immersive storytelling to reach new audiences?

‘Some work is independent of the repertoire and some is inextricably linked or provoked by it,’ says Toby Coffey, head of the National Theatre’s Immersive Storytelling Studio. For the last five years, the studio has produced a series of immersive experiences. All Kinds of Limbo is an original music piece and performance, created in response to NT’s production, Small Island.

‘We have created a communal room-scale VR experience where the audience and performers are in the same space together.’ Through the use of VR glasses, viewers step into the show, alongside life-size ‘holograms’ of the musicians. Madame Kalamazoo does not really happen in virtual reality, but it is still interactive. ‘We are not driven by technology. If we can create an immersive story via old-fashioned email, we’ll do it.’ In the new application that was launched during the pandemic, Madame Kalamazoo is a storyteller who arrived from the Blue Moon at the start of lockdown. She writes funny daily stories for children and sends them to you by email. In the stories, the children are the main characters. ‘I think the lockdown has been a catalyst for a lot of digital conversations that have been around for a while’, says Coffey. The National Theatre had to cancel all planned tours, but the National Theatre at Home platform reached 20 million viewers over the course of four months. ‘This shows that the home market is really significant and I think that goes beyond lockdown. This is a much more tangible way to go forward than we considered it to be.’ And the studio has even bigger plans. ‘One of the things we will be doing in our next projects is look at how we can better create works that are intended to be consumed across different types of hardware.’

How can we stage a performance that some people can watch on TV, some in VR, some in MR?
Basically, the same performance, but perceived in different ways.’

Any final advice for creators?
‘People who are guardians of new work in this area should support a symbiotic relationship between technology and storytelling, rather than one coming after the other, and allow artists time to get used to the technology and create great work.”

 

NEW HORIZONS Magazine download link:
https://www.christopherlafayette.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/magazine_vrdays_2020.pdf

The best thing I saw at IFA Berlin

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IFA Berlin is one of the biggest consumer electronics exhibition in the world. I jumped on a train from Amsterdam and went there with the intention to visit everything related to VR. And there was a lot to see: HTC Vive, Sony Morpheus for developers and gamers, tons of Samsung Gear VR with various previews, Zeiss VR One for the high range VR glasses, lots of mid range VR glasses, Arte’s cross-platform for virtual reality, various Oculus demos and Roller Coasters… This was all interesting, but nothing that I didn’t already know about, until this: http://www.fraunhofer-cingo.com/

Fraunhofer institute has developed an amazing software for 3D sound experience! It analyzes any type of audio input your video has and adapts it in 3D space. All you need is your smartphone with VR glasses, and any, yes any!!! type of headphones and you have 360° video and sound.

Why is this so great?

Because until recently, and I speak from personal experience, to make a 360° video and have corresponding 360° sound was a huge challenge. For me it was amazing to see such a good and well functioning solution. I honestly thought it’ll take much longer.

So, I tried it and it worked great! (not perfect yet, I noticed some slight mismatches between spacial movements and sounds but it was nothing compared to the overall effectiveness) Oh, and one more thing, you can use it to simulate 5.1 (or any other set like 4.0 and so on) only with the two speakers of your computer, phone or smartphone!

Another indispensable tool for immersive film is here, check it out:)

http://www.fraunhofer-cingo.com/en/ueber-fraunhofer-cingo.html

VR and Ethics

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This is an article on The Ethics of Virtual Reality from 1992. It covers the main problematics of the concept in philosophy and ethics. It elaborates on the cultural and technical dimension of VR and introduces various points of view. A short quote:

“Virtual reality therefore has the effect of reality upon us, though we recognise that it is not properly real. VR is best described as a simulation, as opposed to a representation (Baudrillard, 1983). If I make a model of something, say a chair, then my model is a representation if I never lose my belief that it is the original chair that is the real object. On the other hand, if I make a model of something, say the surface of the moon, and in navigating the imaginary terrain I come to believe that the model is real, then I am in a simulation. The term “virtual reality” is a precise expression of this latter concept for we are, at the same time, admitting the fact that we have created a model (which is unreal) and admitting that we are treating it as reality.

The significant point about this definition is that VR is essentially subjective. VR is an experience and not a piece of technology. I can curl up with a good novel and claim to be in virtual reality, whilst I can don the most expensive headset and data glove yet remain perfectly aware of the fakeness of what I observe. This is important because it follows from this definition that many symbolic structures in society can be viewed as “virtual reality” (for example, cases where a computer model of an organisation does not reflect the underlying reality). We must therefore understand virtual reality as being the expression of a deep philosophical problem caused by our commitment to symbolic structures whose existence now obscures the reality of the underlying object.”

http://www.cs.waikato.ac.nz/oldcontent/cbeardon/papers/9201.html

 

morning text 2

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I was wondering

Dear Best Friend,

I was wondering. All night I was wondering. An idea was coming to my mind and than drifting. Than coming closer again and running back. I was trying to catch it but it would escape, only to tickle me again on the nose or the feet in just a few minutes. In the moment I would start flying away in the land of mindless rest and peaceful darkness it would come back and inspire me. I was waking up, wondering what it was and trying to remember. It was on the tip of my tongue but I couldn’t reach it. I tried to write it down, but without success. Than I would fall asleep and same will repeat again and again until the sun enters the kitchen window.
This has been happening for the last three nights now as the humid and warm air is conquering the valley. I am afraid my dear friend, I won’t be able to catch that idea, to overcome myself and reach for this brilliant beautiful thought…anyway.This morning I noticed I was all covered with mosquito bites.
I was than wondering…

Your Best Friend,
Me