VR Video is garnering a lot of attention at the moment, and you can almost hear the Hollywood populace scrambling to capture the buzz surrounding the Oculus Rift and virtual reality.
Jaunt VR are riding the wave of ever growing commercial and creative interest in 3D 360 degree films designed to be viewed in a VR headset. They recently secured $6.8M in VC funding to develop their specialist VR video hardware and software and are currently leading the charge into Hollywood, first with a ground-breaking short horror film, and now they’re heading direct to the red carpet to bring you immersive VR coverage from the recent Guardians of the Galaxy movie premiere.
The pictures from the launch of the latest Marvel/Hollywood blockbuster look much the same as any other you might have glanced at in any glossy magazine. Look closer though and you’ll spot a somewhat incongruous and entirely alien looking piece of cutting edge camera technology. Jaunt’s distinctive 14 camera 360 3D array, which perches atop a pole adorned with what looks to be a 360 microphone array, certainly stands out. The important thing though is that the Jaunt team were allowed access to film the celebrity event and once edited, stitched, post-processed and assembled, it will present another first for VR—the virtual red carpet experience.
Jaunt were asked to film the event, held at the El Capitan theater on Hollywood Boulevard as part of its Artisan’s initiative, designed to highlight behind-the-camera talent. Kenneth Voelker from Jaunt was the lucky individual charged with toting the unusual VR Camera rig. Variety’s David Cohen, co-host of the event said “I think everyone’s still figuring out how to use virtual-reality video for event coverage. When it works, it has the potential to let millions feel that they’ve been to places few people ever get to go: A red carpet, a seat next to Jack at a Lakers game, you name it.”
Jaunt have told us that the plan is to give Oculus Rift owners everywhere the chance to see the results of this special event for themselves soon as they’ll be releasing a version to the public, the final details of where and when to be confirmed. We’ll of course keep you posted.
You can find more about Jaunt VR at their website here. The original Variety story is here.
