TLDR: it’s great! – buy it for one of the best passive VR experiences you can get today.
When I reviewed Google’s 360° action flick Help – it became the standout example of horrible 360° filmmaking – basically trying to use conventional film techniques in a 360° video and getting pretty much everything wrong. I am happy to say that The Secret Location implementation of The Great C is a fantastic example of how to do it right!
The prolificness of author Philip K. Dick is well known. He cranked out many many Sci Fi stories of varying length and quality during his time as a writer. The Great C is a short story, about 10 pages, written in 1952. The Wikipedia summary is:
The story is about a human tribe living in the distant future in a post-apocalyptic world, where a computer called the Great C has destroyed the world. Each year, the tribe sends a young man with three questions to the Great C, and if the computer cannot answer the questions, it will leave the tribe alone. On the other hand, if the computer can answer, the young man will be killed by the computer.
A young man from the tribe is sent to the Great C, with three questions prepared by the wise men of the tribe. He reaches the Great C in a destroyed building in the ruins of a city. The man asks his questions, first, he asks where rain comes from. The Great C answers with ease. His two other questions (why doesn’t the sun fall out of the sky? and How the world came to existence?) are also easily answered by the computer. The Great C then absorbs the man and uses his body as energy, awaiting next year, for the next young man. Meanwhile, the tribe prepares for next year, coming up with difficult questions.
Your typical happy PKD story. It’s perfect grist for VR storytelling. How did Secret Location do?
Normally I’m going to pick apart the ineptness of the director, and the horrible use of “VR Storytelling” when I review something like this. Surprisingly, there’s none of that here plus they actually told a great story as well (if somewhat predictable). They’ve made great use of some of the traditional techniques of cinema, including sometimes taking over camera motion – and even including a long zoom – thing you typically don’t see in well-done VR, but Secret Location did a lot of experimentation and kept what worked – so they were able to adapt some traditional film techniques into VR without nauseating the user – kudos to Secret Location for breaking ground and showing folks how it can be done.
The techniques used here – the fading to black in viewpoint changes, the scene gradually coming into focus during a viewpoint flyover, etc. excellent lighting and shading and 3D audio, sets the mood and carries the audience with it rather than tossing them into a scene abruptly.
Mood is very important to the story and is maintained throughout. Plus there’s a “comfort” mode for those whom have trouble with fully immersive VR. Take the scene below – you can tell it’s got great ambiance – but it’s quite different experiencing it in VR where you can look around and see destruction all around and hear all the sounds associated with the scene. It’s quite the effective technique for storytelling.
Despite taking some liberties with the story – which generally improved it for VR storytelling – they presented a compelling, magical and somewhat reinterpreted version of the story, making excellent use of the medium and breaking almost no cardinal rules of VR. And when they did, they did it right. In fact, I’d say it’s the best use of a 360º “video” I’ve ever seen. The plot is great, the story poignant, the dialog compelling, the voice acting great, and a soundtrack composed by Junkie XL. The experience in VR is almost magical – it’s that good.
Written in Unreal 4.19 (in the current version of the app on Steam) it’s about a 35–40 minute long experience. It’s fully 360, but most of the action takes place in front of you, so there’s no awkward head swings to keep the action in front. But if you want you can follow minor action that way – it’s a full-on 3D VR application, not a video! Though it does have pretty tight control over your viewing location it does let you look around – and there’s lots to see. It’s one of the best $5.99 you can spend for a VR experience. Available on Vive, Rift, and (supposedly) PSVR.