The VR Forum of the 3rd SRIFF Held in Xi’an

The VR Industry Summit Forum of the 3rd SRIFF Held in Xi’an

    In 2016 that is viewed as the beginning year of the Virtual Reality (VR), VR is walking into all aspects of our life from gaming to film & television, from tourism to real estate, and from education to healthcare. Looking ahead, the exploration of current situation and future landscape of VR development has been a hot topic across the world. On September 21, the “International VR Image Screening& VR Industry Summit Forum” of the 3rd Silk Road International Film Festival (SRIFF) was held at Qujiang New District, Xi’an, which brings together top experts from home and abroad to share their ideas and discuss the VR industry with a promising future.

    Lu Kelun, Deputy Director-general of the Shaanxi Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television, Wu Yilun, Director-general of the Xi’an Administration of Culture, Broadcasting, Television, Press, and Publication, Hui Yi, Controller of the Xi’an Radio and TV Station, Li Tiejun, Deputy Director of the Xi’an Qujiang New District Administration Committee and other leaders presented at the VR forum.

    Lu Kelun, Deputy Director-general of the Shaanxi Bureau of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television said that Shaanxi teeming with rich cultural heritage and abundant culture resources gives birth to tons of film & TV talents and outstanding works. Shaanxi is looking forward to joining together with all countries to leverage the bridge of the Silk Road Film Festival to conduct more cooperation and exchanges in the VR film & TV industry and its derivative industry. It makes great efforts to fuel the seamless connection of talents with technologies and the in-depth integration of capital and resources, and build a comprehensive industrial agglomeration platform, building itself into the incubator and bellwether to lead the film and television development of the countries along the “Silk and Road”.

    The VR Industry Summit Forum was divided into two parts held on the morning and afternoon respectively, with the theme of "VR Makes a World of Possibilities" and "Looking into The Future: the Development of Entertaining and Cinematic VR" both of which invited a dozen of industry elites to discuss the future of VR in image entertainment.

The VR Industry Summit Forum of the 3rd SRIFF Held in Xi’an

    Content is the key part of VR development

    On the morning of September 21, the VR Industry Summit Forum themed "VR Makes a World of Possibilities" was hosted by Sarahshah, Founder and Creative Director of the World VR Forum, which invited Yin Weimin, Chairman of TCDIC, Ren Xiaohui, General Manager of TCDIC, Cai Zhenghao, Deputy General Manager of TCDIC, Chuck Pei, Founder of Reel Fx, Sara Kingo Smith, Founder of Reverse Engineering, Ali Jeter Fathcharya, Founder of virtualinfocom, Chen Deshan, Director of Technology Department of Panasonic Broadcast and Television System Marketing Co., Ltd., Mark Jackson, Managing Partner of Seahorn Capital Group, Li Wenjie, Sales Manager at Harman China, Mario Kenyon, Director of Furious M, Michael Hjorth, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Starbreeze AB and other guests to attend.

    Reel Fx founder Chuck Pei has ever created VR content for many famous films such as The Hunger Games and Tree of Life. Chuck Pei said he is fond of VR and AR and VR development means a general trend in Hollywood in the future.

    In the view of Sara Smith, despite a rapid development of VR technology, content is still the main means to make money, so content is the most crucial part of VR development.

    In the opinion of Mark Jackson who is one of the most famous investors in game domain in the US, currently the major problem about VR is how original content creators get more financial support, and venture capital doesn’t mean the best channel to support them.

The VR Industry Summit Forum of the 3rd SRIFF Held in Xi’an

    Ali Jeter Fathcharya from India explained the VR production process in combination with the tradition of India. He said VR could help the poor to get rich. He and his team visited rural areas to learn their knitting technique, based on which they created characters in games, and sold their works in stores or online to help the poor through discount and promotional activities.

    In the view of Chen Deshan, Director of Technology Department of Panasonic Broadcast and Television System Marketing Co., Ltd., the greatest advantage VR has is the real feelings of making one immersive. With the VR technology and environment, we can enjoy the atmosphere VR creates when all of us stay at home.

    At the scene of the forum, the rising star Mario Kenyon invited five volunteers to experience the ideal condition in the VR filmThaw in person, showing more possibilities of virtual reality to people. As a young VR producer, the local Angelenoput neurosciences contained in VR into cinematic narration to create the well-known film Thaw.

    Harman China Sales Manager Li Wenjie introduced Harman’s 70-year of development course and specified the advantages of its products like car audio system and digital theatre sound.

    In his summative sharing, Michael Hjorth said in general VR is to make the audience see the 360-degree panoramic views through one screen or display, getting more feelings. In his view, VR will see a rapid development in the next one or two years.

The VR Industry Summit Forum of the 3rd SRIFF Held in Xi’an

    VR will not replace traditional narrative film language

    On the afternoon that day, the VR Industry Summit Forum themed "Looking into The Future: the Development of Entertaining and Cinematic VR" was hosted by Jing Yu, co-founder of IN2•Beijing Immersive Tech, which invited MICHAEL ZYDA, Founding Director of the USC GamePipe Laboratory and professor of Engineering Practice in the USC Department of Computer Science, Zhang Qing, founder of Mili pictures, MICHAEL QU, tutor of enterprise in MIT and UC, Qi Shaohua, co-founder of Hua Rong Dao (Beijing) Cultural Media Co., Ltd., Jiang Deming, General Manager at UtoVR, CHUCK PEIL, Founder of Reel FX, Micke Hjorth, Co-owner of Tre Vänner Produktion AB and executive producer, and San Mu, and President of the all media platform Movie View to attend, joined by VR experts from all parts of the world who shared their insights.

    Touching on the application and development history of VR technology in the film & TV space, MICHAEL ZYDA showed, in the interaction form of vivid graphics, the world VR technology developing from nothing to adoption in a finer, smaller and more convenient manner and to the application in the film art field, allowing attendees to feel the power and novelty of VR technology.

    Mili pictures founder Zhang Qing, who has produced outstanding animated films such as Throne of Elves and Dragon’s Nest: Warriors’ Dawn, showed young mentality and ambitious posture that China’s VR technology keeps up with the times from the perspective of the development and application of VR technology in China’s film industry.

    San Mu, publisher of the Movie View magazine, said a series of VR screening activities held at the VR forum are important features of the film festival. And the world-class brainstorm at the forum unveiled the VR technology, enabling more people to see infinite possibilities VR technology brings.

The VR Industry Summit Forum of the 3rd SRIFF Held in Xi’an

    Famous documentary director Qi Shaohua said that VR is just one of the forms of cinematic narration, so it will not replace the traditional narrative film language in whole even if it is widely adopted. Among the reasons, the subject-matter, narrative technique and technical characteristic of VR determines that subject matters it expresses are restricted, so the traditional film and television language remains suitable for the filming of a large number of wonderful stories and subject matters that are not applicable to VR.

    From the perspective of professional skills, Uto VR general manager Jiang Deming delivered a wonderful speech, providing a detailed description of VR technology and the principles and procedures of its applications for the audience at site.

    MICKE HJORTH said that the application of VR that people are deploring currently is only related to 3% of all of the fields, and there is still a long way ahead. In the future, VR sees a significant potential increase of application in game. For this respect, the interactivity of VR films remains to be intensified.