A real revolution is taking place in the world of media, parallel to that of artificial intelligence, which may change the dominant form of visual communication, consolidated for centuries in the frame, a two-dimensional picture in which the world is represented. The painting, the page, the photograph, the cinema, the television, the computer, the smartphone, the tablet, lead content back to a rectangle, a picture, or rather a frame isolated from reality.
With the immersive revolution we move from the picture to the sphere.
Virtual Reality opens a new chapter in the “conquest of reality,” a distinctive line of development in the Western arts, making video and photographic footage even more “real” because it represents the world in 360 degrees. Virtual Reality emerges as a distinctive multimedia language of the 21st century, following the dominance of film and television in the 20th century.
Its innovative feature is the immersive experience, in contrast to the linearity of audiovisual storytelling. It is no longer facing a time sequence, but an explorable space. Steven Spielberg stated in April 2016 that Virtual Reality will undermine cinema, because it will prevent authors, filmmakers especially, from telling a story according to their own imagination.
“In my opinion, it is not just an extension of cinema. It is its own thing, and we have to find out a lot about the tools it offers. You are the cameraman, so framing is everywhere you look, it’s a whole new language.”
Italiano