VIRTUAL REALITY TREAT
It is a new way of storytelling in cinema, and three films from the Chinese mainland are set to compete for awards at the Venice festival. Xing Yi reports.
Twenty-two virtual reality films, including three from the Chinese mainland, will vie for awards at the Venice Film Festival, on the island of Lido, in Venice, Italy, on Aug 30.
This is the first time a major international film festival is holding a competition for VR films.
“It is a new way of storytelling,” says Lou Yanxin, 32, at his studio in Beijing.
“There are no set rules such as shots, cuts, transitions and montages in traditional films,” he adds.
Lou is the founder of Sandman Studios, which will show Free Whale, a seven-minute VR film, in Venice.
Using VR, the film tells a sci-fi story in which viewers travel with the protagonist to a remote planet.
The mission is to retrieve a chip embedded in a robot whale there. The film ends when the explorers discover the robot has developed consciousness after swimming alone.
The film’s participation in the Venice Film Festival is exciting for the young team.
“Everyone is new in this field,” says Lou. “No one knows much about VR films in China, or in any other country, and that gives us a level playing field.”
Lou says he decided to set up a studio focused on immersive storytelling after his experience of VR on Google Cardboard in 2015.
“It’s a revolutionary technology and offers many opportunities,” says Lou.
“Such a big development comes once in a blue moon. So, I did not want to miss it.”
Lou founded the studio in September 2016, just after the VR craze hit China.
A sci-fi aficionado, Lou named his studio Sandman after Neil Gaiman’s comic book series The Sandman.
“It’s a story about dreams, and I think the VR experience is a kind of a dream,” he says.
VR lets viewers forget where they are. And that is the reason why Lei Zhengmeng, 30, named his VR studio after La Pinta — the fastest ship of explorer Christopher Columbus.
Lei and his team at La Pinta Studios will be at the Venice Film Festival with their 11-minute VR film — The Dream Collector, which is about an old man, a dog and magic.
Speaking about his participation in the festival, Lei says: “We received an email (in July) from the organizers a week before the announcement of the participating films, asking whether we wanted to do our film’s premiere at the festival.
“I then knew that our film was in!”
The studio was founded a year ago, and the film is its first work.
Before founding the studio with two friends in 2016 , Lei worked at Alibaba Digital Media and Entertainment Group.
“After years with a big company I wanted to do something small and beautiful,” says Lei.
Lou and Lei know each other and appreciate each other’s work.
They will both give talks about VR filmmaking in Shanghai on Friday, together with Shao Qing, the CEO of a Shanghai studio, whose VR film Chuang (In the Pictures) is also competing in Venice.
Lei thinks that participating in the festival is a good way to popularize VR films in China, and says that as investments in VR grow, content companies will focus on creating good products and telling good stories.
As of now, the market value of VR content, such as VR games and films, is expected to hit 28 billion yuan ($4 billion) in five years, says a report released in June by iResearch Consulting Group.
Meanwhile, Lou has started work on his next project.
“In this field, experience from traditional films is of no use,” says Lou. “The new technology gives us a chance to leapfrog and transcend.”
No one knows much about VR films in China, or in any other country, and that gives us a level playing field.” Lou Yanxin, founder, Sandman Studios