Oculus VR, the company currently working on the Rift virtual reality headset, has a dedicated studio making film experiences for the Rift. Recently, Oculus Story Studio premiered its new project to Hollywood filmmakers, and now the studio has shared some more details with the public. The film, called Henry, looks absolutely adorable.
The animated short film follows the adventures of a porcupine, who loves to hug other creatures. But, since he’s a porcupine, his hugs scare others away, and as a result no one attends his birthday party. The film uses the Rift headset to achieve greater immersion in the film. Henry the porcupine will actually look at and address you as if you’re in the world with him.
Check out the new video discussing the film’s production below:
Viewers wearing the headset will be able to move their heads and look around in the film, although it’s unclear at the moment whether user input will go beyond that.
On Story Studio’s website, the team referenced some of the difficulties of making VR movies. For example, because viewers have the ability to look around, the studio has to relinquish control over the camera shots to make the film immersive. You can read more about the process of creating VR movies here.
Henry will be released in the beginning of 2016 alongside the retail launch of the Oculus Rift, and it’s being directed by Ramiro Lopez Dau, who worked on the animation for several Pixar movies. This is a cool application of virtual reality, and it hopefully marks a new wave in VR filmmaking that will come to all of the upcoming headsets. What do you think about VR films? Let us know in the comments.