Pilot

Curator’s Note

Ever since the Lumiere Brothers’ presented Arrival of a Train at La Ciotat to a wonderstruck live audience way back in 1896, film technology has changed gargantuanly and so too has its power. What was once thought of as nothing but a passing fad or a magician’s gimmick has exploded into what is now perhaps the most polarizing and popularly consumed medium of expression to both entertain and ideologically influence the human race. While some early film theorists conceived remarkably accurate visions for the evolution of cinema, it is doubtful any could’ve quite predicted the scope of what is now possible, nor the sheer ambition and technological wizardry that we now regularly see from Hollywood heavyweights and Indie newcomers alike.

In writing about what he called “the myth of total cinema” during the mid 20th Century, André Bazin argued that with increasingly improved technology being perpetually inevitable, filmmakers are indefinitely in pursuit of seamlessly recreating life to the most immersive degree possible – a “total and complete representation of reality.” Total cinema is a myth, however, because while cinema changes and continues to closer replicate the experience of reality with every new innovation – consumers adapt along with it, growing heightened awareness for the audio-visual tricks at play behind the scenes. While Virtual Reality tech in 2018 is quite immersive – allowing “viewsers” to look where they want to in the 360° canvas, and sometimes even freely navigate the projected space or choose unique narratives to follow – it doesn’t give the viewer a totally immersive experience, deep down we still intuitively know it’s an illusion. All cinema requires a certain level of suspension of disbelief – just like live theater does –but how much immersion do we want in the new media that we consume? What are the potential benefits of experiencing hyperreal VR films? What about the potential consequences? Can they be reconciled? Bazin believed that the capitalistic motivations of the film industry are another factor in preventing total cinema. The idea is that if movies are made with the intention of turning a profit, then they’re really not films but tools of propaganda or just simply decorative advertising. But just because a film advertises does that mean it cannot also be considered great entertainment? And how much should we pay attention to the ways in which our media influences us beyond the thrill of said entertainment? These are just some of the many questions we need to be asking as the world continues to become more mediated and VR transitions to the mainstream.

In 2011, I saw the Red Bull extreme snowboarding film, The Art of Flight. It’s awesome, I still love it to this day, and the guys in it are absolutely badass. What’s interesting about the film to me now, though, is how it so blatantly exists to sell a specific product by associating it with a certain experience, and how it uses the tools of cinema to communicate that experience. As a guy who loves downhill skiing and enjoys drinking an occasional Red Bull, I have to ask myself – why? Because I’ve tried both and have evaluated the experiences for myself? –– Yes! –– but also probably because of my awareness of the cultural status of both (in great part due to my experience with movies and the omnipresence of other new media) and a subconscious desire to embody similar associated ideals.

Further still, I love skiing because to me it is the ultimate freedom. The freedom to carve down a mountain at speeds up to 60 mph and pave my own unique tracks in the snow supplies a feeling that I imagine is the closest thing to flying like a bird that I will ever humanly experience. Likewise, it is an amazing privilege that I been so lucky to grow up in a family financially capable of raising me into the sport. Most of the world population is not so privileged and even those that are might never get to experience what I’ve gotten to enjoy every winter since I was three years old. Movies tickets (or a Netflix subscription, for that matter), are a privilege to be able to afford in their own right, but are way less expensive than a trip to the Rocky Mountains. The Art of Flight supplies an artificial taste of what is like to snowboard in extreme locations; But with newer, better, and more readily available VR technology, it is only a matter of time before Red Bull sponsors a more immersive more real-feeling sequel. It’s not hard to imagine how effective of an advertising tool such a film might be.

I created my VR short film, Pilot, as an experiment to discover how well I could duplicate a skiing experience of mine (yes, it is me skiing in the film and my helmet which supplies the perspective), see what it might feel like to try and relive a trip from base to summit and back down, and then try to edit it into a video that reflexively examines the questions and themes discussed above. It’s called “Pilot” because a pilot is a person who flies but also the name assigned to many first episodes of countless television series and this was my first VR project. The skiing footage was a ton of fun to capture and it required little effort as I essentially just turned the camera on while it was attached to my head and I went about my ski day with my family like any other day at the slopes (though I had no idea how it’d come out). The opening scene was trickier because I had so many ideas in my head that I wanted to visually express as a catalyst for the rest of the film. While I certainly won’t be receiving any Oscar buzz for my acting, I’m happy with how the scene came out and thankful for my friend, Mark Szvetecz, who filmed it. The hardest part of completing this project was definitely the editing process, as I had to teach myself how to use Premiere Pro, deal with 360° footage that was 350 Gb of data in total, and ultimately create a video that ties in independent research and says something new about film theories from last century – which I tried to do with subtlety and ambiguity.

Aesthetically speaking, Pilot mimics some stylistic elements of The Art of Flight and it’s meant primarily to entertain by putting the viewer in my boots with the ability to look around the mountain wherever he or she pleases. This both encourages critical thought on the subject of “what is cinema?” (how much ownership of narrative or agency viewers should have in the films they consume, and how closely film should attempt to duplicate reality) and gives the viewer a chance to more realistically experience skiing (it should be noted however that viewers cannot choose their own path down the mountain and are thus still tied to the narrative I’ve selected for them). So in that respect, it could be said that my true intention was to create a work of counter-cinema in the sports film genre – one that has no single tyrannical message, but encourages viewers to reflect on the nature of cinema, and how beyond good old fashioned entertainment it influences our thinking, our actions, our culture, and our social hierarchy in ways we may never fully understand. Beyond casual brainwashing, we know how fun movies are for our culture to share, and we’re starting to see VR technology implemented in both medical facilities and classrooms for people to receive all kinds of different benefits – so there are pros and cons (too me mostly pros, but you decide)! Pilot is a love letter to The Art of Flight, a celebration of affordable more easily accessible VR equipment, a retelling of my family spring break experience in Breckenridge, Colorado, and a warning to the masses that as a united people we ought to be critically mindful of how we choose to embrace VR going forward.

Works Cited

Morgan, Curt, director. The Art of Flight. Red Bull Media House & Brain Farm Digital Cinema, 2011.

“The Myth of Total Cinema.” What Is Cinema?, by Andre Bazin and Hugh Gray, Univ. of California Press, 2005.

Mcguire, Morgan. “Virtual Reality: The Actuality of Total Cinema.” Faculty Lecture Series. 4 Apr. 2016, Williams College, Williams College.

Dooley, Kath1. “Storytelling with Virtual Reality in 360-Degrees: A New Screen Grammar.” Studies in Australasian Cinema, vol. 11, no. 3, Nov. 2017, pp. 161-171.

F. Solina, B. Batagelj and S. Glamocanin, “Virtual skiing as an art installation,” 2008 50th International Symposium ELMAR, Zadar, 2008, pp. 507-510.

JEHEON, MOON, et al. “Effect of Ski Simulator Training on Kinematic and Muscle Activation of the Lower Extremities.” Journal of Physical Therapy Science, vol. 27, no. 8, Aug. 2015

Dittmer, Jason. “Immersive Virtual Worlds in University-Level Human Geography Courses.” International Research in Geographical & Environmental Education, vol. 19, no. 2, May 2010, pp. 139-154.