Oculus Story Studios’ Henry, the tale of a lovable, hard to hug hedgehog and his search for friendship, has walked away with the first ever Emmy awarded to a virtual reality film.

I wrote recently that the traditional motion picture entertainment industry seemed to be gravitating towards immersive media, keen to explore creative and financial possibilities, and now one of the earliest VR films has itself become recognised by that industry, awarded as “Outstanding Original Interactive Program.”

If you own an Oculus Rift consumer headset, it’s unlikely you’ll have missed Henry, the first film made specifically for virtual reality to come out of Oculus Story Studios – itself set up to explore the creative possibilities VR might afford. It’s the story of the titular hedgehog with a desperate desire for friendship, but whose less than cuddly exterior foils his attempts to do so.

henry-emmy

Henry’s a delightful experience, channelling as it does the charm present in many of Pixar’s trailblazing CG animated features, but the film also represents a milestone in the world of VR entertainment. Henry represents an early attempt at both extending and in some cases completely re-inventing the language of linear visual storytelling, inherited TV and movies to cope with, and take advantage of, the ‘look anywhere’ challenges virtual reality presents. This is something that the OSS team explored in depth in their presentation at last year’s Oculus Connect conference. You can watch it below, and it’s highly recommended to anyone with even a passing interest in the subject.

So, after all of that pioneering work, predictably, the Oculus Story Studio team are over the moon. “When we set out to make Henry, it was a step into the unknown world of making an emotional VR movie,” says Ramiro Lopez Dau, director of Henry, “While we didn’t know what the outcome was going to be, we were excited about the possibilities. We never anticipated that one of our first projects would be given such a distinction and this recognition is not only a testament to our team’s creative and technical achievements, but also a validation for the VR storytelling community as a whole. While Henry is just one step in the long journey ahead, we hope this moment inspires storytellers to bring their ideas to this new medium and help shape the future of VR storytelling.”

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Oculus Story Studios is continuing on it’s experimental journey into VR film-making. It’s already released LOST, and will soon release Dear Angelica, a VR film previewed at this year’s Sundance Film Festival and with an altogether different feel to Henry.

Here’s hoping Henry‘s Emmy win inspires more of those Hollywood executives and creatives to seek out and invest in virtual reality as a narrative platform. In the mean time, Henry is available on the Oculus Store for free.

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Based in the UK, Paul has been immersed in interactive entertainment for the best part of 27 years and has followed advances in gaming with a passionate fervour. His obsession with graphical fidelity over the years has had him branded a ‘graphics whore’ (which he views as the highest compliment) more than once and he holds a particular candle for the dream of the ultimate immersive gaming experience. Having followed and been disappointed by the original VR explosion of the 90s, he then founded RiftVR.com to follow the new and exciting prospect of the rebirth of VR in products like the Oculus Rift. Paul joined forces with Ben to help build the new Road to VR in preparation for what he sees as VR’s coming of age over the next few years.
  • Bryan Ischo

    It wasn’t even that good. I guess they’re desperate to have stories to tell at the Emmy awards.

  • James Friedman

    Needed to be longer, but it was cute. Poor guy just couldn’t help destroying everything

  • Dotcommer

    Its incredible the megaphone effect Oculus has regarding this stuff, yet google’s Spotlight Stories team has been around longer and has solved so much more of the VR narrative problem, with actual branching storylines and even true interactive choose your own endings, not to mention real compelling stories that actually pull on your emotions much like an actual Pixar film.

    Henry is pretty, and not much else. To call it interactive is laughable as he only looks at the viewer once (more of a glance really), and then you’re forgotten about for the rest of the show. The only interactivity is your ability to lean around a little from where you’re sitting. Clearly with how out of touch the Emmy committee is with this new medium, it didn’t take much to blow their minds.

    • Sabina Bonnici

      I haven’t seen Henry yet, but I’m interested in the Spotlight Stories you mention Dotcommer… which titles would you recommend for branching storylines and choose your own endings?

  • WyrdestGeek

    Not available on Gear VR?

    I mean– I know Gear VR kinda ducks but it’s what I’ve got to work with atm.

    • realtrisk

      It’s rendering in real time with pixar-quality visuals. Your phone doesn’t have the power to do that.

  • Justos

    Doesnt matter who won it, there will be people that say it wasn’t deserved. Great job Oculus. Henry was my first experience in the CV1 and it was really cute.

  • Who cares

    Too boring to watch. Sure they won an emmy, fine. The average user or viewing public doesnt give two shits about the super details behind the technical achievements. If they did, E3 would be so fucking boring. That video felt like a GDC seminar.