Oculus VR, the company behind the Oculus Rift, announced on Monday that it will be releasing four films for the virtual reality headset. The first of the four films will be debuting at the Sundance Film Festival, which will be held in Park City, Utah, Forbes reports.
The short film, entitled Lost , is directed by Saschka Unseld who worked for Pixar as an animator and is known for being the director of the short film The Blue Umbrella. The Oculus Rift movies are developed by an internal division of the company called the Oculus Story Studio, which focuses on creating VR content. They will also be in charge of allowing directors in Hollywood to learn more about the tricks of the VR industry.
The Verge reports that Lost was created for the Crescent Bay prototype , which is created to be lighter than the Oculus Rift versions that are being sold to developers. The film is said to be between four to 10 minutes long, depending on the user’s actions.
According to the company, the idea of creating a movie started when they showed the Oculus Rift to filmmakers who were excited about the thought of a virtual reality movie. However, the company didn’t know how to move forward when it came to movies, CEO Brendan Iribe said.
“We didn’t have an answer for them. We knew how to get started with games, but we didn’t know how to get started with film, with Hollywood, with cinema. How do you create content? What’s the tools, the pipeline? Is it even possible to make a cinema experience that is compelling and rich? One of the goals of the Story Studio team was to prove that.”
Lost stars a robot and users can immerse themselves in the environment. Users can stop and check different areas of interest and they can look around and even interact with some elements from the film.
“It’s like you’re sitting on that stage and the play is happening all around you. The magic of VR is that you truly feel present in the environment.”
The other three films that are set to be released this 2015 involve a hedgehog busy with balloons, a bullfight, and another film directed by Unseld entitled Dear Angelica.
By showing the Oculus Rift movie at Sundance, the company is hoping to sell the idea of creating virtual reality movies to Hollywood filmmakers. They are also hoping to help interested parties to find solutions to the challenging process.
[Image via Forbes ]