Moviegoers who are concerned about Megalopolis and Hollywood’s limitations in 21st century filmmaking should find an Apple Vision Pro and sit down to a screening of Submerged.
Apple invited me to their premiere red carpet event in New York to watch Submerged before it was released on Apple’s headsets. I was asked to bring my Zeiss prescription lenses if I had them, so I removed them from the headset at home and carried them in my UploadVR bag.
When I arrived, I told them I brought my lenses and was told I also needed to bring my Apple Clip Code, which identifies my prescription for the headset. An Apple representative pointed me to the Health app on my iPhone, which already had a prescription in it when I bought the lenses, but I didn’t realize it was there.
So I snapped the lens into the headset, put it on, pointed the camera at my iPhone’s screen, and adjusted it to my prescription.
Before the main event, Apple screened some upcoming videos of the NBA All-Star Game. This was an interesting point of comparison. In 2018, I attended a Lakers game at the height of NextVR’s VR streaming push and noticed that the cameras were carefully positioned to provide intimate angles, such as through the backboard.
But in Apple’s new NBA video of the 2024 All-Star Game, you can see how the backboard is taken over by another camera system that moves to follow the action for TV viewers. My Apple camera was sitting on a hoop stand, and my vision was shaking wildly every time I dunked. I didn’t enjoy it. Meanwhile, another shot from courtside showed the ball coming directly towards the camera, a notable moment when viewers tried to avoid it.
But I didn’t lug my lenses through the New York City rail system to get courtside at an NBA game. I came to see Apple’s first immersive scripted short film, so it was time for a mostly spoiler-free review.
Immerse yourself in the future of film
Submerged is a groundbreaking short film in immersive media.
For any professional or aspiring professional looking to work in film, finding and seeing a friend’s Vision Pro should be a top priority. It’s a shame that the majority of people haven’t been able to try this yet, but eventually there will be a Vision headset at a price point where you can try it.
Of course, immersive filmmaking is not a new idea. From smell to stereoscopic 3D to tactile chairs to IMAX to Adam Driver fielding audience questions in Megalopolis, more than a century of research continues on how to keep moviegoers in their seats. I am. Make your escape longer and more thrilling.
Despite all these efforts, the theatrical experience seems to be running on life support in most venues. Even when you have the desire to stream from home and can actually afford to go see a movie, venues beam movies through dimly lit projectors onto screens littered with distracting debris that compete with up-close movies. A dilapidated kiosk counter is operated by unmotivated staff. -I am constantly tempted to check my phone. This death-per-thousand cut looks like it’s drastically destroying the escapism and suspension of disbelief that these theaters have provided for generations.
Even when I watched it in VR, I forgot to put my iPhone in Do Not Disturb mode before “entering the theater” so I couldn’t look at my phone and didn’t feel like pausing the movie and taking off my headset. . It was only 17 minutes long, after all, and my device was vibrating and hitting me for the entire duration of the screening. Even when I was inside Apple’s single-person theater, my iPhone essentially turned into a couple chatting in the third row, ruining this immersive experience. So it’s clear here that the iPhone itself is seen as the core problem that Apple is trying to solve with Vision Pro.
Submerged has many shots set underwater. Based on these scenes, I told Apple PR that they should also release this short film for the Quest headset so that consumers could compare the presentation on the LCD display to the OLED in the Apple Vision Pro. I did. I theorize that these shots won’t be visible at all on a Meta Quest 2, 3, or 3S display. For example, in Disney’s What If… interactive experience, the project begins with the sparkling black of a starry sky. If the same moment were represented in Quest 3 or 3S in the meta, it would likely appear as a grayish mess, and I suspect the same would be true for the feeling of being “submerged” underwater. But with Edward Berger’s Vision Pro in All Quiet On The Western Front, he mastered projects specifically for Apple’s displays. So when you look into the murky ocean, you feel like you’re floating there, looking through the ocean itself as an obstacle rather than a display.
The story follows never-before-seen actors portrayed on a human scale through intimate, carefully choreographed shots inside a shiny, service-like submarine. Overall, many shots have a shallow depth of field as these characters seem to occupy space just a few feet from you, allowing your eyes to be glued to their every expression and pore. , you feel like you’re face to face with these characters. face. The camera movement tends to go straight back and forth, consistently and comfortably, except for a few moments when the director wants to induce some sort of change in your attention or mindset.
The most notable thing about this film, and ultimately why this film is a must-see for movie buffs and aspiring filmmakers, is that it uses an immersive camera to test the limits of linear storytelling. Here’s how to do it. I’ve seen some immersive films from the Jaunt era nearly a decade ago that I’d like to forget now, but the ones I particularly want to erase from my memory are the actors in the war epic. However, it was a movie that made me feel bad about being so close to the war. camera. But in “Submerged,” the few brief moments where actors hit the mark and the cuts were too long are all but forgotten next to the camera building toward the climax.
I’ll never forget the sinking feeling you get when Apple’s camera steadily tilts off its horizontal axis with each subsequent shot. Overall, the production values and execution here leave the viewer with nothing to do but take a deep breath of fresh air at the end.
behind the scenes
Apple released a behind-the-scenes video showing the camera system and set, as well as the official text pasted below.
Filmed on location over three weeks in Prague, Brussels and Malta, Submerged was filmed using an authentic 23-ton submarine set made of real steel, brass and metal, modeled after World War II-era ships. The majority of the set was built to withstand complete submersion, and was uniquely equipped to expose the Apple Immersive Video Camera to sparks, steam, water, and fire without compromising viewer immersion. It featured practical camera traps and special effects. Cast members who may be out of frame or out of focus in 2D productions are carefully scripted and undergo freediving training in submersible tanks and open water to maintain continuity and realism. Participated in extensive stunt rehearsals including;
