Oculus is counting on an adorable critter named Henry to help convince consumers – and Hollywood – that virtual reality is a realistic option for storytelling.
The virtual-reality company, which Facebook bought for almost US$2 billion (Dh7.3bn) last year, debuted a 10-minute animated narrative film starring Henry, a lonely hedgehog, during an invite-only event last week at a private mansion in Beverly Hills.
Inside, guests donned consumer versions of the Oculus Rift headset and were offered a 360-degree glimpse into Henry’s home as his birthday wish magically came to life.
In fact, Henry is the second short film from Oculus Story Studio, an internal production company established by the company last year after the Facebook deal. The first, Lost, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival this year.
"The goal with Henry and these short films isn't to be an introduction to virtual reality," says Oculus founder Palmer Luckey. "We're trying to build things with Oculus Story Studio that other people can learn from, and build better content from as a result."
Luckey added that Oculus is not attempting to create a studio to rival Hollywood's existing players. Instead, with Henry and other works, the company is seeking to demonstrate the capabilities and potential of VR, and inspire studios and production companies to create content beyond mere promotional efforts connected to traditional-format films and entertainment franchises.
“In a perfect word, we’ll have all of the major studios making tonnes of VR content because they’re making a lot of money off of it,” says Luckey.
“That would be much better for us than having to hold up the entire VR marketplace with our own content. Nintendo managed to do that with their games, but it’s really rough. It’ll be much healthier to have a diverse ecosystem.”
Henry is an entirely passive experience that doesn't require viewers to use a controller, other than tilting their head to look around at the all-encompassing action inside Henry's tree-trunk abode. However, Henry director Ramiro Lopes Dau, a former animator at Pixar, included the ability for the spiky character to look directly at the user during the experience.
“I think there’s room for all different kinds of experiences, where they can be more or less interactive,” he says. “In the case of Henry, it’s more about the character. We use those moments when he’s happy or sad to look at you, no matter where you’re standing.”
The introduction of inter-activity in a piece of content referred to as a short film begs the question: Is Henry really a movie? Or is it a game? Or something else entirely? "I don't think anyone really knows," says Dau. "Personally, I don't care what it's called. I just want to make something that gives you an emotion, tells you a story and is magical to you. I don't care if it's called a game, a movie or something else."
Oculus plans to bundle Henry and other films and games free with Oculus Rift. The company has not said how much the system, which will require a high-end PC to run, will cost when it launches next year.
The company, which ignited the latest VR obsession three years ago, now has several competitors diving headfirst into the marketplace, including Valve and HTC’s Vive headset and Sony’s Project Morpheus, which works with the PlayStation 4 console.
