The Sundance New Frontier program had 37 different virtual reality experiences showing on two different floors on Main Street in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival. Bechir Sylvain is an independent filmmaker who got his first taste of VR at Sundance last year at the New Frontier program where there were only about a dozen different experiences. For Bechir, going through all of VR experiences at Sundance was like a kid getting to experience Disney World for the first time, and I had a chance to capture his reactions and enthusiasm as he got his second big exposure to VR.
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Baobab Studios co-founder Eric Darnell summarized the difference between film and VR beautifully. He said that while film is able to give you the story of a single experience, VR enables you to have your own experience that allows you to generate your own story. I don’t think that the New Frontier program was quite prepared to handle the demand to see VR as the average wait time to see an average experience was 90 to 120 minutes with some of the more popular experiences seeing over 3-hour wait times. While this was disappointing to some film fans looking for a quick VR break, it’s certainly good news for VR in that it’s something that had a lot of buzz and interest within the independent film community to see how storytelling is evolving in this new medium.
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Rough Transcript
[00:00:05.412] Kent Bye: The Voices of VR Podcast.
[00:00:12.073] Bechir Sylvain: My name is Bashir Sylvain, and I'm from Haiti. And the first time I got introduced to virtual reality was this movie called Lawnmower Man back in 1993. I was 12. I was 12 years old. And I remember seeing that movie, and I just remember saying that that's going to be the future, as cheesy and as corny as this movie is. And if you were to watch it right now, you're going to be like, what is he talking about? But we are actually here. exactly that world to be able to interact with another world, basically. What is it that gets you excited about that? It's just the possibilities. I just love the fact that we have so many possibilities with virtual reality because you can actually take someone to another dimension. Yes, a future or anything like that, but also you're able to basically take someone to an experience. You can actually get to experience something while you're at your home. So, the excitement I have is that in the future, hopefully, they'll start creating programs for virtual reality where you could take someone to a country. For example, from Haiti, it would be so awesome to be in your room, you put on your goggles, and boom, you're in Haiti and you can actually walk through the mountains and see the waterfalls and learn about the history with a guide tour and actually experience it. And of course, Later on in the future, they'll be able to like put in the smell and all that wonderful stuff. But I mean, I'm just super excited that we're actually here, that I'm actually alive, living and breathing the time of something that I thought was impossible.
[00:01:44.170] Kent Bye: So tell me the story of the first time that you experienced virtual reality.
[00:01:48.140] Bechir Sylvain: The first time I experienced it myself was last year when I came to Sundance and they had this exhibit, New Frontier and Sundance. And it was something simple because it was really packed and we came in for a second just to know what it was about. And they said virtual reality, automatically I was like, I'm in. And they gave us the Google box and we put it on and it was just transforming. It was exactly everything that I thought virtual reality was. It's exactly it. You're actually in the world. You get to see every corner. I was like, I was looking at like every crevice of a wall because when we get to experience like someone's life in another country, I forgot what country it was, and we were inside their apartment. And so we were sitting there and I was like, she's talking and I'm looking at her. But at the same time, I was looking in the corner. I was looking in her bed. I was looking like in the crevice and stuff. I was like, oh man, it's an ant right here. Like it was so awesome. And that's what gave me the idea and the inspiration of like, man, I'll be so awesome if they create more content like this where you get to experience it. So that blew me away. I got to take a sample home, showed it to all my friends. I gave it to my brother because he's a big fan of virtual reality. So I blew his mind. So it's just very exciting, especially someone that comes from a place like Haiti. to even have an imagination like this and have something match his imagination is just incredible.
[00:03:06.545] Kent Bye: So if you were to give a metaphor for what you're feeling right now by getting to experience all this, how would you describe that?
[00:03:14.911] Bechir Sylvain: The only way I could really describe it, it's like a kid going to Disney World for the first time. Your mind is trying to catch up with the building, the colors, the characters. It's just mind-blowing because at a young age, you know of that world, but when you actually experience it, it's like, oh my God, I can't believe I'm in Disney World right now. Oh my God, it's Mickey, the one I keep seeing on TV. It's right in front of me. So it's basically what it is for me.
[00:03:42.834] Kent Bye: So what have been some of your more favorite experiences in virtual reality so far?
[00:03:47.139] Bechir Sylvain: So far it's, well I'm about to do the reality virtual reality. So basically you have an avatar and you actually can see your avatar and you're with another person and you're solving puzzles and everything. And also, the Leviathan Project was really awesome, because you get to interact and create a whole brand new species of whatever creatures they've already created already. And you're basically a doctor and a scientist helping them create this creature, which is really awesome. So it was, I mean, the whole experience, you can't beat it. I mean, it could be as simple as just putting on the glasses and being in an empty room to actually interacting with other things. It's mind-blowing. It's just mind-blowing.
[00:04:30.202] Kent Bye: So what do you want to experience in virtual reality then?
[00:04:33.425] Bechir Sylvain: What I want to experience is exactly that. I want to experience. I want to have the ability to have a true experience because when you're watching a movie or watching something on your computer, you experience it totally different. I always say that we're living in a a world where we experience everything through our screen. You know, right now you could go and watch a war on your TV screen and you kind of have a feeling about it and then you comment and then boom, you've experienced it. But imagine now you're able to actually be there and really see the people suffering or whatever. I think it will really allow people to really connect with what's going on, then have this detachment. Because I think virtuality is really going to allow people to have that extra attachment that allows you to empathize instead of sympathize. Because sympathy, it has a wall, but empathy, I think, that's the goal for me, for virtual reality.
[00:05:30.238] Kent Bye: So what are some of the experiences where you found that you really experienced that sense of empathy in virtual reality, and what was that like?
[00:05:35.729] Bechir Sylvain: Yeah, last year when I was here and I was sitting at that girl's apartment in another country and she was talking about, you know, how she grew up and she took us to her trail in school. It was such an experience because I got to see her world. I got to see her route to school and it was mind-blowing. It was just like, wow, I get to walk on somebody else's shoes, which is You can't beat that. You truly cannot beat that. We try to do it with films, but really walking in their shoes, seeing what they see, it's just a matter of time when we could smell and taste what they see as well. And boom, then we won't have to go anywhere.
[00:06:14.490] Kent Bye: So yeah, Haiti is a lot different in a lot of ways to the United States. And so if you were to try to create an experience to give someone a taste of what it's like to be from Haiti or live in Haiti, what would you show people?
[00:06:25.572] Bechir Sylvain: Man, I would go in through history first. I would take them to the museums, the artifacts that we have over there, the citadel, which is the one fortune that we had that no one was able to conquer during Napoleon times. and just take them through all the different places that a lot of people don't see. They only see one side, which is Port-au-Prince, and they always see the impoverished areas, but they really don't see the island, the paradise that is in Haiti. They don't see the vegetation, the mountains, the waterfalls. I mean, the people, the fruit. I mean, it's... incredible. That's one thing if I were to be in this you know industry and allow myself to do a project that's what I would mainly focus is to show them the island in a different perspective which is my perspective because I grew up there.
[00:07:14.569] Kent Bye: Yeah, so talk a bit about your background in films and then like your wildest dreams for what would you want to do in VR?
[00:07:21.475] Bechir Sylvain: Oh, well my wildest, I mean first I started in high school. I wanted to be a lawyer because when you come from the island you're only a lawyer, a doctor or a dentist. or a politician. Anything else doesn't really matter. Until we moved to the States, then I was introduced to sports and arts and like as if you could actually follow that as a career, which was mind-blowing to me. So then I took an acting class and I did a couple musicals, which was pretty awesome. And then I fell into storytelling because while I was in Haiti, I watched a lot of the films that you guys had here, from Saved by the Bell, Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies of all time. It has a lot of virtual reality in it. And it just blew my mind the way that I learned English through watching TV. So it was just such an influential thing that I just, as a kid, was like, I have to be a part of this. I could literally make people feel, make people learn another language. I mean, everything that I've experienced, my goal is to be able to do the same thing. My goal is to be able to have a kid that's in Haiti right now, see one of my films, and hopefully it's a virtual reality film, and be able to go, wow, it is possible. Because when you grow up in a country like this, you don't really see the possibilities. You only think it's a fantasy, and that's it. Because Back to the Future in my head was real. I didn't care what anybody said. And it took me coming to the States to really believe that it could happen. And everything that I've ever dreamt in my head has happened. So my goal is to really come up with inspirational movies that's going to make people experience life and really understand how to empathize instead of sympathize.
[00:09:01.704] Kent Bye: And so because you've had some experience in storytelling and film and you've got a taste of VR for both last year and this year at Sundance, I'm curious if you've been able to make some distinctions between what the strengths of film are versus the strengths of VR and, you know, kind of compare and contrast the two mediums in terms of telling stories.
[00:09:20.122] Bechir Sylvain: Yeah, I mean, they both have their own strengths. Filmmaking a regular movie is you're able to hear the person's voice. You're able to see it and hear it and experience it in a sense of someone's perspective. So usually you have like, you know, a catalyst and you have, you know, a protagonist and you have the, you follow the hero and he goes through an experience or a group of people or whatever. And it's almost like, nowadays, movies have become textbook, and virtual reality has become film. I don't know if anybody could get that, but... What do you mean?
[00:09:52.517] Kent Bye: Maybe you could elaborate.
[00:09:53.337] Bechir Sylvain: Like, how does that... Like, so basically, like, back in the day, when you used... well, books were a way to learn about, you know, history or, you know, just any kind of education. It was a way to... a platform to get information. And films now are becoming more and more of the lead of how to get information. You get to see it, you get to hear it, you get to see actors portray these characters and you're like, wow, I'm interested. That's the strength of it. You get to actually see and experience these things that are not tangible and see it in front of you and go, wow, use your imagination and then you create this movie. But virtual reality, not only you get to see it, you get to experience it. You get to live it and be in it and understand it and hear it in all the angles instead of one angle. You could be in a room and instead of just looking at the picture that we're forcing you to look, you could look around and see the entire environment, which creates an experience. Which movies does give you an experience, but it's a more personal experience because you're going through it as well, instead of watching the characters going through it. So I think that's what virtual reality and movies, that's the benefits that they have.
[00:11:02.388] Kent Bye: And finally, what do you see as kind of the ultimate potential of virtual reality and what it might be able to enable?
[00:11:08.791] Bechir Sylvain: I think the ultimate goal is to be able to basically experience life in a room. I mean, I know some people might be like, oh, this is so pathetic and you're not working, but it's just... For me, I look at it as working out your brain. It almost feels like you're expanding your brain because you're using a part of your brain that you never used before because now you're actually taking your psyche to another level of experience. So as much as a lot of people will be like, oh, well, so people are just going to be in their room all the time, you will have your regular life. Of course, everything has to be in moderation, but The beauty of it is to be able to tap in that extra part of your brain that you're not used to because every time I come out here, my mind is blown and you're trying to catch up the thoughts and the things that are going through your head. It actually influences you and it inspires you. And anything that does that, I'm all for it. So I hope that it continues to grow. I hope that everyone gets to experience it to the positive. And of course, there'll always be a negative side of it, but hopefully there'll be more positive than negative.
[00:12:14.123] Kent Bye: Is there anything else that we didn't talk about that you feel is left unsaid that needs to be said?
[00:12:18.625] Bechir Sylvain: People need to know about this. I think there is a lack of not educating people about it, which, especially with social media and everything like that, I mean, if you were here right now, there's a lot of people here, but when I go home or I go to Los Angeles or I go to Miami, they're like, what are you talking about? And I'm hoping that your podcast or, you know, anybody could just spread the word and really look into it objectively. Don't already create in your mind that it's a bad thing that, oh, it's going to ruin, you know, society, but it's not. It's actually it's going to help so many people. I mean, can you imagine sitting and help businesses to think about if you're a real estate and you want to buy real estate in China and you could just put on these glasses and see the entire apartment? without having to spend thousands of dollars to fly over there to see an apartment that you don't like. Boom, you purchase it in there and then you could experience life. So I think it's going to really be such a facilitator to progress than anything else. And if anybody doesn't see that, it's sad. It really, really is sad. But yeah, I think that's it. Okay, great. Well, thank you so much. No problem. No problem. Anytime.
[00:13:29.033] Kent Bye: And thank you for listening! If you'd like to support the Voices of VR podcast, then please consider becoming a patron at patreon.com slash voicesofvr.
