A small cafe near Beijing’s Embassy Street can play world-class virtual reality movies. When I came here to have tea, a sister came in and wanted to see Allumette, a 20-minute-long animated short film that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2016.
"(China) All VR theaters are relatively new," said Cedric Garcia, director of content at Yuecheng Technology. Yuecheng Technology opened two VR theaters in Beijing this year, including the cafe where I drink tea.
This is because most of the virtual reality studios are abroad. In the past, China had not created enough content for itself. But now the situation has changed.
The Allumette VR story was inspired by Andersen's The Little Match Girl, a new video that was redefined and interpreted. Allumette VR can't really be considered a game. The way of expression is presented to users in the form of videos. The background of the Allumette VR game takes place in a city in the cloud and tells a girl's understanding of her mother's love. The world of AAllumette is based on Venice. There are majestic boats passing through the clouds and bridges of cobblestones arching over the blue sky. Many of Penrose's artists and technologists come from Pixar and DreamWorks.
The problem encountered by the virtual reality industry is the question of "chicken or eggs first."
The global VR industry is expected to reach US$7 billion in revenue this year (approximately RMB 46.34 billion). However, the industry has encountered difficulties. The problem of “chicken and egg†has been its bottleneck in hardware and content development, as well as excessive costs, low quality of hardware and content, and a vicious circle. On the one hand, since there are no affordable head-mounted devices that can be offered to consumers, it is difficult for VR content producers to sell their own works. On the other hand, the lack of high-quality, attractive content will also make it impossible for hardware developers to promote their high-end hardware products to consumers.
From an expert's point of view, offline VR game rooms allow users to experience VR games without purchasing specialized equipment. This can fill the gap between “hardware and content†in the short term. In China, the number of existing physical VR experience centers is expected to reach 12,000, although it is difficult to make profit.
"The offline experience has become an important way to educate the VR consumer market." An analyst at an American research firm, iResearch, Men Yuxiao explained that "these VR experience centers can accelerate the development of the entire VR industry."
Yuecheng Technology's Small Coffee Theater in Beijing
In addition, VR Cinema provides a new channel for filmmakers to give them access to another group of enthusiasts who love virtual reality—game enthusiasts.
“The user needs of these two user groups are very different.†said Lei Yimeng, CEO/co-founder of Pinta Studios.
VR Cinema TestAlthough virtual reality cinemas are still in the early stages of development, they have been "varied" in layout and design and are very rich. Yuecheng Technology's cafes are equipped with single tables and chairs. Just buy a drink and you can sit and try their VR device for free. Yuecheng's second cinema decoration is different. It is located in a warehouse-style e-retail shopping mall. Experience the need to buy tickets, the fare is 5-12 USD/day (approximately 33-80 RMB), and the price will change over time. Every week, four to five works are featured to show to consumers.
The style of VR cinema in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is very different. There are usually about 20 seats in the luxuriously decorated bar or lounge. The VR cinema in the Netherlands is the first VR cinema in the world. Yuecheng Technology was inspired by CEO Gu Bin. In January this year, he switched from the public relations consulting industry to the VR industry. The VR Cinema in Amsterdam charges $10.5 per half hour.
The Shanghai X-Cube is also very different. This company was only opened last month. The VR Theater has 7 seats in an ordinary movie theater. Each consumer sees a movie for a fee of 3 to 4.5 dollars (approximately 20 to 30 yuan).
X-Cube Experience Room
These theaters face the same problem - how to find the most suitable charging model. This depends to a large extent on outside investment. In addition to the movie theater business, Yee Shing Technology has made an undisclosed amount of investment from the advertising company Digitop. Prudential Technology is also working hard to develop its own content, including a social virtual reality application.
"The virtual reality cinema is still in its infancy," said Lei Yimeng. "At present, there are very few VR companies listed. These companies are mainly concentrated in big cities, but they need to find ways to make profits."
Lack of high quality content has always been a problem. Yuecheng Technology already has more than 100 registered works, but not all works are first class. I tried a 360-degree video they provided. The content was a giant panda. The picture quality was not very good. Nature is not as good as Dear Angelica.
Dear Angelica is produced by Oculus Story Studio and tells the story of the hero Jessica entering her mother Angelica's fantastic memory. It is also the source of the cover dragon. This story does not involve the use of games as a means of communication. Instead, it requires the audience to move their own feet to watch different memories. Oculus Story Studio is an emerging media studio that explores how to tell stories in virtual reality. At present, there are only two works in the studio.
At the same time, cinemas can't put the same videos every week (although they can stick to their best work.) Although the concept of VR cinema is very appealing, it needs to be continuously provided to repeat customers. Exciting and shocking content.
In the end, the hardware also needs to be continuously upgraded to make progress. Even when wearing a HTC Vive's headset, the quality of the alien film Invasion still has a lot of room for improvement.
Despite the difficulties, Garcia is still very confident about the growth rate of the VR industry. Oculus, for example, plans to introduce a cordless headset next year with position tracking and no external camera.
Virtual reality movies are also rapidly evolving, "faster than games, because there are festivals everywhere." Garcia said he mentioned the Tribeca and Sundance Film Festival. “At the festivals, there is generally a classification of VR movies.†China’s “plays†in the VR industry are also becoming more and more important, with more and more opportunities for debut, and the proportion of the entire industry is gradually increasing. For example, of the 22 VR films at the Venice Film Festival, two of them are VR studios from China: Pingta Studio and Sandman VR.
The VR Experience Room at the 74th Venice Film Festival
Currently, Lou and other filmmakers feel that VR Cinema can help the industry deal with some pain points in a short period of time: Fragments on different platforms - some with Oculus Rift, some with HTC Vive. But now in the VR theater, all users only need to sit down, wear equipment, and rotate in a 360-degree seat. This is also a profitable approach. However, Lou believes that in the long run, intellectual property and registration will also become a profitable strategy.
"As in the past when movies and television first appeared, everyone had access to offline places to experience." VR movies will probably follow a similar path, but they also need more time to grow.
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