PictureThis_18: Virtual Reality and Storytelling

The PictureThis_ conference is Initiated and funded by Nordisk Film Fonden, part of Egmont. At PictureThis_18 hot topics included a showcase VR storytelling to how data and AI is changing the face of script writing and the democratisation of film production through new next-generation technical tools.
 
There is clearly a paradigm shift going on in film production led by advances in virtual production and interactive pre-visualisation that is being adopted by world class film makers from Steven Spielberg (Ready Player One) to Denis Villeneuve (Blade Runner 2049) and Andy Serkis (The Jungle Book).

The conference featured a series of early adopter case studies and talks from innovative filmmakers, designers, technicians, scientists and industry experts from around the world, responding to the technological changes of the industry and pushing the limits of digital filmmaking.The award-winning journalist and media analyst Kate Bulkley (The Guardian and Broadcast Magazine) was the moderator of the day.

Amongst the speakers was Ted Schilowitz, Futurist from Paramount Pictures, who predicted that by 2020 wearable devices will be “smart and light enough to replace the smart phone and we’ll be wearing something that blends with your humanity”.

At the end of the day Habib Zargapour, chief creative officer of Digital Monarch Media and Julia Lou, an R&D software developer at Double Negative in London, did a live demo of a tool, which essentially replaces the motion capture stage. It is basically two game controllers, hooked to a rack holding a Lenovo camera phone and running software written by Lou.

Read more about PictureThis_18 and the sessions here.