Virtual Reality
I am not going to deny my enthusiasm for all the possibilities induced by Virtual Reality in the field of entertainment.
This doesn’t make me completely blind though.
There is one point in particular that needs to be clarified – that of the sets – the staging, if you will, including both what the VR spectator will see and what he will hear.
Before the pandemic, gna gna gna, gna gna gna, pandemic that allowed us to meet, so it was a fortunate pandemic, in a way – so before the pandemic, I had found a German company whose realizations of scenery for virtual reality had delighted me.
Not only did they do it perfectly well – but also in almost real time – all this thanks to the use of this process that I told you about afterwards, Procedural Generation – which also has the advantage of considerably reducing the amount of memory to be used: we only keep/show what is in the field of vision, and this in real time.
So from a technical point of view, I knew that my problem was solved.
I could offer virtual reality adventures without sending my spectators into ugly scenery: the background of a theatre stage is not very interesting, I must admit. The ceiling is rarely interesting.
The backstage ? do not break three legs to a duck.
In fact, the problem is only solved from a technical point of view.
It is possible to quickly create a masterful setting for scenes experienced in VR.
That’s a good step – but it doesn’t solve the problem: what setting, then, madam, do you propose for your VR experiences?
Knowing that there are no technical concerns, I proposed to leave this aspect to the performance companies that will be involved.
In principle, this may be the best option.
However – it is very possible that some people do not have any proposal.
In this case, it is a question of being able to propose adaptable sets.
Considering the perspectives offered by the Procedural Generation technology, it is quite possible to propose to increase the real scenery, so that it completely frames the proposed scene: the backdrop disappears, the “virtual” ceiling appears instead of the immense void populated by grids, lights and speakers.
If this can be totally effective or even brilliant to develop this axis in the cinema – I don’t like it too much for the live performance – because the spectator is not in the same conditions and doesn’t have the same expectations.
So, diversifying the proposals seems to me much better.
And that gives – increase the dimension: I am at the show with people who watch.
At that moment, I use the procedural generation not to increase the stage set but to increase the presence of the spectators and position them all around the stage, as if the backstage and the back wall did not exist anymore.
So I, the spectator, caught up in the diabolical imagination of an unknown girl, find myself catapulted in all directions and what I see, in the background, are the faces of the classic spectators. I stay in the theatre – and I hope no one sees me in this predicament.
As a result, it also gives me a splendid perspective on sound.
I’m sorry.
Do you understand?
If I leave you in the theatre, almost in real life, but in an “impossible” place – how can I not use the sounds of the theatre? It would be a fatal oversight!
Those sounds that you don’t hear when you are the spectator, because you are too far away.
But just imagine – if I take again my hoop, its ties, the artist’s hands, imagine the sounds I can add to amplify the stress (barely, I’m a measured girl you know): the sound of the cable – the sound of the ties struggling – the sound of the hands clutching the hoop – the sound of the shock each time the feet touch the ground
Then, with the added sound, the real effect will jump into your head.
A little stress, no, wondering if that damn cable is going to give out – or wondering what that weird rubbing is coming, where’s the danger?
This, then this, I’m proud of – not to say very proud.
& I’m well on my way to achieving my goal: Altair offers a new way to see live performance.
It is in my opinion useless, counterproductive, not to say “de mauvais goût“, to use virtual reality as a damn noob too happy to put any decor. That, others will do it – and it will suck and it will just make you feel sorry.
It’s using it without losing sight of the objective that will make it work best.
Featured Image : Augmented reality – Greg Madison turns his apartment into a video game set
ALTAIR - Concepts 