Oculus Rift (Photo : Reuters)
Facebook is pushing the boundaries of virtual reality after it announced that it will be introducing its very own virtual reality studio to be unveiled at the Sundance Film Festival. The studio will be named Story Studio and will operate under the Oculus VR division of Facebook.
Story Studio producer Edward Saatchi said, "Oculus is getting focused on films. Story Studio is designed to inspire and educate - inspire by making awesome movies and educate by sharing our information with the community."
Oculus VR is one of the pioneers when it comes to the virtual reality medium. The start-up company initially targeted video games as its primary market but since the acquisition of Facebook, the company has considered entering other market like the movie industry for instance.
Story Studio is aimed to make virtual reality a common medium for entertainment in order to attract users and in turn open up its market for new investors, according to Wall Street Journal. In order to achieve this, the company has put together a team of veterans and experts when it comes to story-telling.
The team consists of veterans from notable animation companies like Pixar Animation Studios and Lucasfilm Ltd. Among the m is the newly appointed creative director Sashcka Unseld who works as a cinematographer for Pixar in the past and Maxwell Planck also a veteran of Pixar.
Story Studio will release its first full virtual reality short film "Lost" at the Sundance Film Festival. It will take advantage of the company's newest prototype called "Crescent Bay" which has an integrated headphone and has the same familiar design like the "Oculus Rif," according to CNet.
Oculus VR was acquired by Facebook on March 2014 for $2 billion. The deal comprises $400 million in cash and $1.6 billion worth of Facebook shares.
