ABSTRACT
While the idea of VR is not new and has been surfacing since the 1990s, accessible omnidirectional video cameras that integrate with standard video production workflows were launched in 2016. Humaneyes believes that Virtual Reality will ‘become a major communication platform’ in a ‘VR echo system’. Beyond online viewing experiences, film festivals and independent spaces are adjusting to the 360° domain. This chapter will explore Mobile Cinematic VR in the context of mobile media art and examine directions this dynamic field is taking. In a mobile cinematic VR environment, viewers are ‘Performing the Mobile’; Mobile Cinematic VR will create synergies between Mobile Media and Performance (Baker 2018) as a creative strategy in the context of Mobile Film Making.
In 2018 the SF3 Smartphone Flicks Fest in Sydney and the 8th International Mobile Innovation Screening in Melbourne introduced a mobile cinematic VR category and showcase to their festivals. At SF3 finalist Vega Island (Mellingen 2018 Norway) and [Mynd] Journey (Schleser 2018 NZ/Australia) premiered in the Sydney Opera House. At MINA Before I Sleep (Chan 2018 USA), PSD (Ross 2018 NZ), A Little Negor Boy’s Prayer (Adelheim 2018 Guadeloupe) and Interwoven: Veganism, Ethics, Economics (Ramirez 2018 Canada) were featured as part of the longest running mobile and smartphone film festival internationally. These mobile cinematic VR projects will be explored through spatialized storytelling, embodied stories and imaginative spaces as key considerations for mobile cinematic VR. Furthermore, the chapter will discuss the affordances of smartphone 360° video and mobile cinematic VR, in relationship with the “Kaitei aesthetic” (Baker et al. 2008 and Schleser 2011), which is rooted in mobile, smartphone and pocket filmmaking.
