Shooting a virtual reality movie requires a different mindset and skill, by Deniz Ergürel

Photo Credit — Billy Bennight for Agent Emerson LLC

Virtual reality is the new holy grail of the cinema industry.

From big shots like Steven Spielberg, Ridley Scott to independent names, countless movie directors around the world are dipping their toes into the field of virtual reality.

Ilya Rozhkov, a Moscow-born director is one of those emerging names experimenting with this new medium.

Teaming up with The Rogue Initiative — a technology based entertainment studio from Los Angeles — Rozhkov has filmed a short 360 degree movie with a custom engineered camera, placed on an actor’s head.

Titled as “Agent Emerson” the short movie tells the story of a CIA operative who awakens to find himself part of an experimental government program where subjects are under complete remote control by “The General”.

“Shooting with a 360 degree camera doesn’t simply make a virtual reality movie,” says Ilya Rozhkov. “We designed Agent Emerson as a virtual reality production starting from the writing phase. Then we reached out to Galaxy Vision and asked them to build a custom-engineered proprietary stereoscopic VR camera rig called the IC-Cam — Identity Capture Camera.”

Photo Credit — Billy Bennight for Agent Emerson LLC

The IC-Cam is placed on an actor’s head to provide a first-person point-of-view. Depending on the set up, this rig can consist from 21 to 23 custom-modified small cameras.

The whole setup weighs around 11 pounds (5 kg.) and the maximum resolution is 6K per eye, which can shoot in 3D.

Read More: