Impressed by VR Noir, I reached out Nathan Anderson, COO & Executive Producer of Start VR to interview. Unfortunately, he is too busy to be interviewed now and promised to do so in Jan. He sent me some links to help me understand this project and I'd like to share some new ideas after speaking with him. Here is my whitepaper on VR Noir.

Start VR is an Australia-based virtual reality company. Founded in 2015, it is dedicated to delivering high-quality virtual reality content and production studio devoted to the creation of beautiful and immersive virtual reality experiences.

With roughly 50 creative specialists who are all passionate about creating virtual make-believe, the Start VR team is comprised of talented and award winning technology, strategy, storytelling. They are excited to be working at the frontier of a seismic technological and societal shift. The company has developed greatly in the past year.

Introduction

VR Noir: A Day Before The Night is an interactive crime thriller available on Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard. It is a 360-degree film with interactive elements created by Start VR.

The most compelling thing is that audiences can play the role of detective Veronica Coltrane, a burnt-out private detective with mounting debts and a dark past. Throughout the investigation, audiences are not passive receivers any more. Instead, they are caught up in a high-stakes drama. With immersing background music, audiences are compelled to engage with local characters and virtual environments, forced to make tough choices, solve puzzles and use their powers of observation to propel the storyline forward.

According to Upload VR, a US virtual reality website, VR Noir is a great example of how virtual reality will change television.

The challenge

VR Noir is co-production between the AFTRS, FSM and Start VR. This project draws on the creator’s history of blending strong narrative experiences with an engaging interactive game design.

According to AFTRS CEO, Neil Peplow, "Taking part in the VR Noir experience will give participants a unique insight into how Virtual Reality narrative engages audiences in a radically different way to traditional film and television."

But how to make the storytelling natural and engaging is a big challenge. It is easy to zoom in or focus with traditional cameras to get the audiences’ attention. Yet it is not the same case to virtual reality. When you can look at anywhere, how to guide the audiences to focus on some important details is a big problem.

How to make it

• Engaging music

When your eyes can look at everywhere, your ears play an essential role to guide you. Think about how you can tell a car is passing by behind you. Sounds can be very helpful in virtual reality, especially 3D sound. In VR Noir, many engaging music pieces are used. First, it helps to catch the audiences’ attention to find those important details. Second, those sounds can create an intensive atmosphere to let you feel the way those characters do. Additionally, music can be very engaging and compelling to help tell a story.

• High-quality content with new medium

When it comes to engaging story, high-quality content comes first. VR is not the same as film. It’s a brand new medium, with an increasingly thirsty audience. But it needs great content as any other medium does.

And the audiences can active all their senses to navigate through 360-degree live-action cinematography and CGI environments. Within the VR video, audiences must solve puzzles, interact with other users and characters, make real choices and notice everything in their search for clues that will keep the story moving forward.

• Technology aid

Using 360-degree live-action photography, blended with computer generated environments, audiences are able to experience the world through the eyes of a detective. Borrowing from established Film Noir tropes, the project places the audience in a familiar genre to aid their transition into a radically different storytelling approach.

Conclusion

A successful VR project can be challenging yet rewarding. Using a brand new medium to deliver high-quality content is a win-win. Engaging music can help guide the audiences and make it more amazing.