With virtual reality, I'm not interested in the novelty factor. I'm interested in the foundations for a medium that could be more powerful than cinema, than theatre, than literature, than any other medium we've had before to connect one human being to another.

Chris Milk

Categorized in : Reality Literature Powerful Cinema

What's always struck me is how different the sensory, especially auditory, experience is when you're in the middle of the music with the musicians playing off each other around you. I wanted to find a way to unlock the intensity of that, to recreate that unique perspective, first for the hundreds of people who attended the concert, and eventually for a much larger online audience.

perspective unique people

For some reason, humans have this funny thing about where we came from - it always has far more emotional weight than where we are.

funny-things emotional weight

My real motivation came from my desire for music videos to have the same equal soul-touching emotional resonance that straight music does.

emotional motivation real

I didn't realize how slow my four-year-old MacBook was until the web team wanted to start using it as the benchmark for a slow computer experience.

four team years

Music scores your life. You interact with it. It becomes the soundtrack to that one summer with that one girl.

soundtracks girl summer

Music videos are very concrete and rigid. They don't allow for em... by Chris Milk

Music videos are very concrete and rigid. They don't allow for emotional interaction.

concrete video emotional

As a filmmaker, you are constantly having the discussion with your team about whether something is "relatable".

discussion filmmaker team

What if instead of seeing a neighborhood that reminds you of the place you grew up in, you see your actual neighborhood? The data exists. The technology exists. It's just a matter of sourcing it and processing it in a compelling fashion.

data fashion technology

Virtual reality is the 'ultimate empathy machine.' These experiences are more than documentaries. They're opportunities to walk a mile in someone else's shoes.

walk empathy shoes reality

Virtual reality is a technology that could actually allow you to connect on a real human level, soul-to-soul, regardless of where you are in the world.

you technology reality world

It connects humans to other humans in a profound way that I've never seen before in any other form of media. And it can change people's perception of each other. And that's how I think virtual reality has the potential to actually change the world.

change-the-world change people world

I was born into a world in which the most compelling stories are through film. But that wasn't always the case. Everything changes; everything evolves.

everything-changes always born world

Journalism is about bringing people to an event or something that... by Chris Milk

Journalism is about bringing people to an event or something that they couldn't attend.

event something journalism people

My real motivation came from my quest for music videos to have the equally soul-touching emotional resonance that straight music does. Honestly, I'm not sure they ever can.

emotional music motivation real

In virtual reality, we're placing the viewer inside a moment or a story... made possible by sound and visual technology that's actually tricking the brain into believing it's somewhere else.

moment technology brain reality

Virtual reality is already affecting people on an emotional level much more than any other media, and it has the potential to scale: all you need is an attachment for your cellphone, and you can have this experience.

you experience reality people

There's three things that you need for virtual reality to work. You need the hardware that's affordable and doesn't make people sick, you need an audience that is willing to pay for it, and you need the content.

you sick work people

My premise is that there's something hardwired into our DNA, that we as a species came and evolved from caves and clans and tribes, and therefore, we as a species care more about the things that are local to us than we care about the things that are 'over there' from us.

more something things care

Music is a great catalyst for emotion because it gets to your cor... by Chris Milk

Music is a great catalyst for emotion because it gets to your core.

your great music emotion

Virtual reality started for me in sort of an unusual place. It was the 1970s. I got into the field very young: I was seven years old. And the tool that I used to access virtual reality was the Evel Knievel stunt cycle.

old place me reality