Beijing in the round

While in Beijing taking spherical reference snapshots for an AR project with my trusty Ricoh Theta, it occurred to me that the “flatties” could serve as templates for 360-degree hutong doodles. Following are a few such sketches, with the wrapped versions available here on Facebook. (full post on AWN)

Stone lions take hold of Chinese viewers

BAN JIN BA LIANG (《半斤八兩》), Magic Dumpling Entertainment’s animated Chinese stone lion buddy comedy and Disney’s first Chinese TV co-production, is now China Central Television’s #1 children’s program, topping the ratings on CCTV14. In reflecting upon the trials, tribulations and ultimate success of the show, I come back to three key factors: people, process and […]

Jaunt China and Beijing Film Academy Partner on Cinematic VR Lab

BEIJING – Jaunt China, an industry leader in cinematic virtual reality, and the Beijing Film Academy, China’s first and foremost film school, jointly announced the formation of the Beijing Film Academy Digital Media School’s Jaunt China Cinematic VR Lab, the first VR lab and incubator of its kind in China. As part of the academic […]

Cooking up a Chinese VR short

360 view: http://vr8.tv/88/3F1840 Earlier this month, immersive content development took an experimental step forward with China’s first improvisational VR “table read” on the interactive cinematic VR short film, FOUR DISHES AND A SOUP. (full article on AWN) 360 view: http://vr8.tv/88/3F187D

Hallmarks of Future Sensory Entertainment

While preparing for a presentation at the Beijing Film Academy’s Advanced Innovation Center for Future Visual Entertainment, I considered what I would identify as the hallmarks of future visual entertainment (which could more appropriately be framed as “future sensory entertainment”). Being a fan of the Rule of Three, I settled on the following: Immersive Interactive […]

The only VR metric that matters

Raise your hand if you have a family member who uses VR every day. (article on AWN)

The Apple of your eye

Daniel Eckler’s article, “The Future of Apple & AR,” reiterates that personal computing is on the verge of a paradigm shift toward augmented reality, and notes that Apple’s recent hires, acquisitions and patents point towards this AR future, as does the tech embedded in their current product line (particularly the much-maligned AirPods, which can be […]

Co-pros are no-go

This week, instead of virtual reality, some cold hard reality: there’s no pot of gold waiting for you at the end of the Chinese co-production rainbow. Zhang Yimou’s The Great Wall, starring Matt Damon and co-produced by Universal, Legendary, LeVision and China Film Group, succeeded in eliciting a universal “Meh” from audiences around the world, […]

VR Comix

Your guide to the arc of the current virtual reality ecosystem in six easy panels, on AWN.

Where does China’s virtual reality industry stand in 2017?

Thanks to Chris Colman and the folks at PIG China for the opportunity to further expound on China’s virtual reality industry. This interview was given last December, following my presentation on “The Art of Indirection” at the 7th International Conference & Exhibition on Visual Entertainment in Beijing.