My VR Journey 101 – So Many VR Ideas so Little Time

[sienamedia]

Written on 5/21/16

My immediate attraction to VR induced flashbacks to my days as a production manager working on music videos and commercials, and it’s where I hoped to begin my VR career, but I was all over the map – I wanted to create VR films, DJ sets, live shows, sporting events, concerts, meditation, architecture, construction, design, tours, education…

I finally decided to play to my strengths and narrow the field a bit to these areas:

• Music: I envisioned fans gravitating toward an immersive musical experience to connect with their musical idols, and music executive using it as a tool to increase “record” sales;
• Advertising: This above philosophy holds true for Madison Avenue as well. It would be fantastic to experience a product before purchase, especially high-end products;
• Travel/Events: I considered all the places and events I wanted to experience but couldn’t, and knew many would enjoy travel and events as an immersive experience as well; and
• Project Arrow: This project felt like a “calling” to use VR to “film” and create experiences depicting leading research on the effects of increasing temperatures on planet earth. The day after Bootcamp, I contacted Los Angeles-based Climate Scientist, Dr. M.N. Raphael (http://www.environment.ucla.edu/people/marilyn-raphael), and began discussing how we could create VR experiences to showcase the effects of a warmer planet (http://www.atmosp.physics.utoronto.ca/SPARC/pdfs/25%20Mon/Session%201/5_1_Raphael.pdf), and what people, cities and countries around the world are doing to reduce their carbon footprint (e.g., England: http://www.chesterchronicle.co.uk/news/chester-cheshire-news/ashton-hayes-celebrates-10-years-107555..., and in Bhutan: http://permaculturenews.org/2016/03/30/bhutan-not-only-carbon-neutral-but-its-carbon-negative-too/). This is the project I wish to present to Oculus for further development, as it will take more resources than I can muster at this time to "film" and create VR experience(s) featuring the melting sea ice in Western Antarctica, and the significant changes individuals are making around the world, like Bhutan and England to combat a warming planet. My intent is to further enlighten individuals about this issue and to highlight the small changes one can make to contribute to a solution.
• I also have a side project I call – Project Josh: My 15-year old nephew, Joshua, declared six years ago that he wants to design and produce games. I have tried for six years to convince him of a career in medicine, law or engineering, but I’m losing the battle, so I’ve decided to share everything I’m learning about VR, Gaming, Unity, et al. with him. He will either abandon the idea of producing games, or get an early start on his career…