There was a time that VR was reserved for the biggest (e.g. oldest) acts out there – due mainly to the enormous costs involved. There was a bit of a risk that it would feel like acts past retirement age trying to be cool and unwittingly invoking the ungainliness of Steve Buscemi’s undercover cop infiltrating high schools in 30 Rock (“How do you do, fellow kids?”). That, thankfully, is changing and new acts are leading the creative charge here.
Stepping into this slowly building area is British singer-songwriter Tom Grennan, whose debut album, Lighting Matches, was released at the start of July on Insanity Records – a partnership between Insanity Talent Management and Sony Music UK. Recorded at Metropolis Studios in London, Grennan performed two songs with his band in front of green screen with each performer having a 3D camera tracking their movements. This effectively creates a 3D model of each member so viewers get the impression of being in the room and moving around it. This footage is then overlaid on 3D footage of the actual recording studio at Metropolis to add a new layer of verisimilitude. “Thanks to pioneering PlayStation VR tech called Dynamic Eye Contact, Tom appears to look directly at you as if you really are in front of him,” says the effusive PlayStation blog. “This creates a jaw dropping level of immersion that’s never been possible before.” There is an accompanying behind-thescenes video on YouTube outlining just how big a technical undertaking it all is.
This is one of the first major projects from 4th Floor Creative, the creative department set up within Sony Music UK in April, who collaborated with PlayStation Worldwide Studios. Interestingly, the VR performance is exclusive to PlayStation VR until January next year – marking a different kind of (virtual) windowing. Of course, doing this means the audience will be inherently limited. It is clearly exciting that VR is being embraced by acts of all sizes, but it is still some distance from being the mainstream phenomenon that its proponents so clearly crave.
