Last October, I had the pleasure of experiencing Virtual Reality for the first time. Premiering at the London BFI Film Festival 2021 and employing striking VR animation, Asif Kapadia tells the story of Laika, the stray dog that the Soviet Union sent into orbit, an exclusive LFF Expanded world premiere.
I found this experience eye-opening and wholly fascinating. Bar a select few cinematic/sonic experiences, I had never witnessed anything like this before, where both immersion and cinematic craft are at its highest level. How the immersion was used to provoke emotion startled me, and the flexibility of camera work enhanced this. As a sitting individual, I was able to still explore each frame untoward. An example would be, as my character (camera) was sat on one side of the room, by merely leaning in my seat, I was able to view and experience the whole room, what was outside of the window, what was underneath me, and who else was existing at the same point.
I left the screening inevitably wanting more, wanting to experience and work more within such a fascinating and emerging landscape.