The Life Hutch VR design team continues to produce wonderful images as we wrap up pre-production. Although our early creative process involved VR prototypes, we have moved on to more traditional storyboards such as the ones above. These illustrations are critical in establishing the mood of each scene, and crystallizing the overall "look" of the experience. They are the heart and soul of the visuals for Life Hutch VR. It may seem archaic to use storyboards, a technique invented in the early 1900s by Georges Méliès, but the VR industry is still in its formative stages and borrowing the best practices from many mediums including cinema.
It has been over 100 years since artists started using film to tell stories and the innovations and techniques to improve this art form continue to evolve. Panning, zooming, close-ups and editing are some techniques directors invented to craft a compelling story and guide the audience by indicating where to look and how to feel. Perhaps no one did this better than Alfred Hitchcock as evidenced by this sequence from his film Notorious. The camera sweeps down from the top of a ballroom to reveal the key that the heroin has secretly stolen. Imagine this scene without camera movement, or the cut that comes next to a medium shot of Ingrid Bergman anxiously watching her husband walk away and you begin to understand the challenges of a VR storyteller.
Alfred Hitchcock, Notorious, 1946