Variety: Entertainment technology has shrunk time and space over the centuries, preserving performances for posterity and allowing them to be seen far away from the performance venue. The next generation of tech promises to deliver to audiences ever-more-lifelike screen images, to give filmmakers and shutterbugs alike more flexibility at less cost, to take audiences to places they could never go — and even to change the way audiences perceive reality in real time.
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The rapid advancement of technology is incredibly exciting especially, but not only, for film and video game artists. But it is also affecting us in the theater world, as evidenced by the relatively new field of media design for theater. Nowadays, the integration of media in a show can just as important a design element as the costumes or the set.
When we got to see the preview of A Winter's Tale, they had no scene changes and a basic set. The shift of feeling for each place to the next, and from each mood to the next was mostly handled by large scale projections.
So although we may think of theater as a more old-fashioned art form, technology is reaching us as well as film and games. But to me that just means we have the ability to exercise our imaginations that much more when creating a show. The 21st century is an unbelievably exciting time to be a designer in theater and I can't wait to see how we can steal these new technologies and use them to make our art.
Every single one of the advancements listed in this article makes me excited. The advancements in the gaming world are crazy. I've seen some let's plays (people filming themselves playing video games) for games that are compatible with the Oculus Rift, and it's amazing. Although some aspects of it are still in the works, and the helmet itself looks quite stupid, the immersions of the gameplay is not only positive for the obvious answer of first person shooters (Halo, CoD) but also for smaller, more artistic games. There are many games that focus more on the creation of a world and environment than the plot. Playing a game like Okami on the Oculus Rift would be absolutely mind blowing. Virtual reality will give many more opportunities to video game artists. Augmented reality is also something that would add so much to entertainment and art. Two things that immediately came to mind as uses for this new technology is using facial recognition to remember a person's name and information (a problem that I possess to the extent that only Augmented Reality could solve it) and the other use that would be amazing is visualizing art. Drawing on a blank piece of paper and having the glasses trace and save your art or your notes. This would also be great to sculptures, set designs and art installations. I can't wait to watch the development of these technologies and perhaps see them become more accessible to the general public.
Virtual reality and argumented reality both really interest me, because they are starting to become accessible to the consumer. The Occulus Rift has already been developed for commercial use, while they are expensive and few games are compatible. The Occulus Rift is also very buggy, as any new technology would be, but it is defining a very intensely interactive future for video gaming.
If you know Pokémon, Nintendo is developing an app for smart phones called Pokémon Go, where users can find Pokémon to fight or capture "in real life" on their phones. There will be certain set locations that a user will physically have to walk to, look at the screen, and see the image of the creature as it would appear in that environment. I'm very interested to see how it works, but it's not being released until next year. Bummer.
I was already familiar with some of these, such as virtual and augmented reality, but many of these technologies were things I’d never even heard of before. I’d never heard of light field before, but just based off the very small amount of photography I have done, that sounds like it would be really useful. I think the technologies that change the viewer/ user experience tend to be discussed by the general population. After all, things like virtual reality can revolutionize an experience, such as playing a video game, whereas light field might end up improving the viewer’s experience, but not in such a drastic way. When I really think about it, a camera that allows so much room for adjustment after shooting is probably more fascinating than virtual reality, but because it only has a clear direct impact on a small group of people, it hasn’t, and probably won’t, be discussed the virtual and augmented reality are.
I am excited about the progression of technology as it applies to video games and virtual realities, but I am curious as to how this could apply to live theatre in the future. I can see how Augmented Reality could be extremely applicable as an extension on the idea of media mapping. Instead of mapping images onto existing architecture of the space, the entire scene is mapped with images to create an extension of the space with media; the whole theatre would become a playing space. While this would become an unreal and amazing way to view theatre, it also has huge implications for the production process. Rehearsals would no longer function the same way because you would not be able to simulate the audience experience without any sort of media. In addition, the amount of time it would take to apply this sort of technology would be astronomical and likely not apply in a theatrical timeline.
I really couldn't be more excited for some of the technology i'll be able to witness in my lifetime. Like Paula, I've also seen some examples of what the technology we already have can do, and its only getting better day by day. Everything is lining up for a whole new level of entertainment, which is awesome. As we become desensitized to certain aspects of entertainment, it seems like technology is moving fast enough to provide new and innovative ways to get us hyped up. I'm just a bit jealous of the fact that generations beyond me will be able to call our generations fringe technology just everyday things for them. One of the more interesting parts of the article was the section on augmented reality, just because I've had the opportunity to see AR in action before and it was one of the most awesome experiences i've ever had with these new kinds of tech. Also interesting that Apple is investing resources into developing an AR headset of their own, just because it's a market that they have strayed away from for so long.
I think what's interesting about these trends is that not many of them started in theatre, but a good portion of them may end up them. Take High Dynamic Range for example. One of the first times that people started to see this trend was on their cell phone cameras as a feature they did not know about but HDR may soon incorporated into projectors which would translate to the theatrical industry. Although I don't think we may see it in the theatrical industry for some time I think that virtual reality may start to pop in some experimental and environmental theaters in not that long of time. Virtual reality would offer us a new portal to storytelling and audience participation. Obviously there are a lot of factors that go into any of these trends moving to the world of theatre but I think that as designers, directors, and managers we should be looking to see where our industry could be leading.
One thing that stood out to me about this article was the different companies that were currently conducting research or already have some sort of prototype created. A few of the companies, such as Google, Apple, and Microsoft were expected participants in these endeavors, however HTC, Technicolor, and Atomic Fiction were not companies I was expecting to see (especially since I’ve never heard of Atomic Fiction). Some of these new technologies seem completely monetarily motivated. Not that these technologies don’t have monetary value or worth. For example, the High Dynamic Range technology doesn’t seem necessary one iota. The comparison of being equivalent to the change between standard definition and HD, makes it seem even more financially forced. Sure, the switch from Standard to HD was nice, picture quality improved greatly, but how real do I need an image to be? Consumers spent billions of dollars making the switch from Standard to HD, and it would seem that the same would happen to this High Dynamic Range technology.
I am SO excited for virtual reality to be a marketable item. It's the ultimate dreamer's haven, to be able to be completely surrounded by a completely imaginary environment. I can't stop thinking of the scene in the movie Her, when the main character buys a virtual reality video game from the store and the little blob creature curses him out when he doesn't get to the task fast enough. It'll be awesome to expand the way we see games with virtual reality. Speaking on the other technologies to look out for, I'm simply excited that there will be more things for us to play with as we go into our respective fields. It's never going to be the same as it was with Star Wars or Star Trek, with everything created with animatronics and not CGI, but people don't seem to want that mask-like quality as much as they want explosive reality. Thinking on these technologies, it makes me a little jealous of my classmates who are taking a class called Computing for the Arts in the Computer Science track at CMU. They're learning skills about coding that will only help them as we fall into more and more technology to help with theatre.
I knew about some of these entertainment trends, but some I had no idea what they were. The Oculus Rift virtual reality headset i knew about because my brother has one and is working on programming environments for it. The headset is super cool they can make you think you are walking down a really long straight hallway when you are really walking on a slight curve so they could make a room that you could walk in for the game and you could literally walk across a whole world but still be in one room. One of the ones I didn't know about was the real-time cloud rendering and how that would bring CG to lower budget films, which is really great. Everyone’s seen that film or tv show that just doesn't have enough money for a good special effects budget and it is almost painful to watch because their CG isn't good. This also means that smaller films can get more recognized because they have the apparent quality of high budget films so more people will want to watch them.
Although it would be easy for me as a costume designer to disregard such trends in media and technology, I think it is essential to pay attention to all developments in the entertainment industry for several reasons. First and foremost, less money spent on visual effects and the like because of more cost effective technology leaves more money in the budget for areas like my work. Second, all it takes is one intelligent costume designer with a technical inclination to ask "how could these principles be applied to my work?" to potentially change how we use costume technology. And finally, improvement in quality of images and in how the audience experiences the 2D in real time could be largely dependent on the overall improvement of production value from all disciplines of the entertainment industry, including costumes and wardrobe. When one discipline moves to the next level in production value, all must either follow or be left behind. As a costume designer and just as a person in general, I might get far less of a kick from such technological development. But few people think it's as cool as I do when a new development occurs in pattern-making technology. All technology is related and relevant to its brothers and sisters, and the better all entertainment artists can understand this, the father we will go in the industry.
I'd just like to verify that I did comment on this article, although apparently under an alias. (See above) Thank you!
I am so excited for the implementation of some of these new technological advances! On Friday I heard a few speakers at SATE discussing the future of Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality and it was really very interesting to hear it all from the professional point of view. The two speakers were both from very different backgrounds: one was a man from Germany whose family runs Europa Park, discussing the ways they are developing VR for one of their roller coasters, and the other was more of a VR-central person who has made significant contributions to the field and had a lot to say about its future. The German man's presentation was very exciting, because it was the first instance I've seen of VR in an already existing, moving ride. There is the Aladdin VR at DisneyQuest, but there has never been VR used on a roller coaster. The idea is basically that the riders put on their VR headset, get into the car, and ride the roller coaster with a movie playing in front of them. The movie is a very cute animation of tracks going through some type of mine, and makes the rider feel like they are riding a coaster somewhere much different. This is a difficult task because it takes away a lot of the interpersonal relationship that comes with sitting with someone on a roller coaster. One of the things we were warned about when using VR in themed entertainment is that people go to theme parks to enjoy each other, not to have fun by themselves. That is why augmented reality is such a great goal, as the second man talked about, because it would allow for people to enjoy each other as well as the imaginary world around them. This same man walked us through the history of the invention of Television, which happens to be very similar to VR: the original idea came about 43 years before the implementation of each, and each time, people said "No, no, we've already tried this! It could never work," but I think VR is going in the same direction as TV and is going to become something people are able to very widely enjoy.
I think it is so great that technology is moving so forward so fast and is able to be applied to the entertainment industry. Pretty much altering the way the audience/user interacts with said form of art by changing perception and visual alterations, the "realness" value goes us so much. I've heard of virtual reality, but it was never something that I saw possible for everyone at this point in time. Its is amazing to see this type of forum expand the enjoyment of life by showing the user a world they can create.
Of these emerging technologies I think the basis of augmented reality sounds the most innovative and forward thinking in the entertainment world. The premise of augmented reality has massive potential in the entertainment industry because it would allow viewer integration with computer generated objects in the physical world. This technology could open the doors to huge public event shows where CGI effects enhance a show, or become the show itself. Augmented reality could also allow a single environment to take on many different forms all at once depending on the software used to view it through. This could be used to build more interactive environments and create spectacular cinematic effects on stage shows where large scale effects might not otherwise be possible. The beauty of this technology is that in theory once you have the software and equipment needed to run it you can create any content you'd like and have it "render" in the physical world, making it extremely versatile. Will this technology be ground breaking for live events and theater or just remain utilized in iPhone apps and portable devices? Who really knows, but I think this technology has immense potential and I'm excited to see where the entertainment industry takes it.
These up and coming tech trends in my mind have been a long time coming. Virtual Reality is something I dreamed about as a child because I say the endless possibilities of immersing a person in any kind of world that the game developers could imagine. If you think about it our sense of sight and sound and feeling is what makes us believe that any atmosphere we are in is real and the best example we have always had is our dreams. I was sad to see that the article didn’t credit Nintendo 3DS for the strides they have made since 2012 with Augmented Reality with their AR cards and the built in console games. From my personal experience it has always made me look at my surroundings in ways I had never seen them before and opened so many new possibilities when playing the mini-games. To think that this technology could be incorporated to change the way we watch sports, and concerts and no longer watching things on a flat screen in front of us but rather on our table like holograms seems very much like the step into the awesome future I want to be a part of. I understand the real time cloud rendering and light field will be more time saving for their respected media industries and defiantly help to cut down cost of labor to move the process of getting to a final product faster. Unfortunately with the up and coming Augmented Reality I am not very excited about High Dynamic Range because I don’t see a clearer and a more high definition image as being the next step anymore. I am sure this will make some people very excited to see but I think this technology missed its mark.
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