Henry

Virtual reality has been a technology that I feel like I've heard a lot about over the years, but I didn't know what it would be used for other than sci-fi or fantasy video games. Obviously this new tech would make games cooler, more realistic, and maybe more fun (I wouldn't know; I've never tested out the Oculus). However, I didn't know until recently that Oculus VR has a film company called Oculus Story Studio.

Oculus Story Studio made a short film called Henry about a little hedgehog who wants to make some friends. (Adorable, right?) Henry is super cute and looks very much like a Disney Animation Studio or Pixar character.

In this video Saschka Unseld, the creative director, says, "We grow up, we kind of forget that as kids these characters in the films we watch, they're alive. And with VR, it makes me feel again like I'm a kid because I can see this character is real." This is one of the reasons I like animated films so much in the first place--they make me feel like I'm a kid again. I always go see animated movies with one of my sisters, Jess, who is six years younger than me. Now Jess is at the age where it's starting to be "uncool" for her to go see the newest animated feature with her friends, but I know she'll always see them with me.

Another part of this video I found interesting was when Ramiro Lopez Dau, the director and animation supervisor says, "Empathy, in VR, is the most important field that we need to explore." I had never really thought about this because I was so stuck in the mindset that VR would be used mostly for sci-fi video game users to see more of the game world. Perhaps the way VR films and VR games are created are not similar at all. I'll have to do more research to figure that out. After watching this short trailer, I'm more excited about VR technology and, of course, I really want to see Henry.