This was my first virtual reality film experience and I have to say I really enjoyed it. I was a bit confused for the first few moments though. I am unsure if I was supposed to be in the passenger seat or looking through the window, but in my case I was looking through the passenger window. The only reason I noticed, however, was because in the very first scene my vision was impaired by me clipping into the foliage outside of the car. This would have been largely frustrating, but we quickly moved from scene to scene and the vantage point I was given was really lovely.
That said, I am not totally sure that I needed to be in virtual reality to experience it from this position. Had I just been looking at a 2D screen, it would have been largely the same effect until I was required to look to one direction (like when Pearl and the bandmates ran into the ocean). Still, being in VR creates an immersion that film does not. By putting us in VR and keeping the exact same vantage point, we are more able to tell the story of the car and its owners without needed to depart from the same shot. It becomes a question of "Do we need to justify VR as a platform?" Nobody asks to justify why we write for screen, so is it fair to say a story has to be made specifically for VR to work? Or can we write a story and choose VR as it fits our preference? I'm not sure. This is all quite new to me and I'm excited to begin unpacking the nuances.
Also, complete side note, I am not sure if I should be wearing my glasses or contacts while in VR? I know its all right in front of my eyes and I'm nearsighted, but there was a bit of a blurriness to it.
When we discuss other senses like scent, taste, and hearing, we talk about preferences (i.e. favorite sounds or foods). However, the conversations around sight tend to be a little different. Of course, we have preferences in things like colors, but there are also more salient natural differences in people’s sight. I myself am nearsighted, so I wear glasses to be able to perceive the world in a way similar to those around me. In the case of the dress (on the right), the entire country disagreed on what color the fabric is. Some saw white and gold and some saw black and blue. Obviously, there is more at play here than just how we perceive color, but the dissonance in what people saw made us very upset. I don’t find this reaction as often in disagreements on other senses, like whether weed smells good.
The reason I bring this up is that we need to consider clarity of our themes/pictures/use of sense. A dissonance, will often cause a problem if not cautiously considered
