the Future of Cinematography

Following along Leon’s path (before biology was introduced in the conversation):

We have really moved from an audience of people sitting together, aware of each other in a way, enjoying the shared experience of watching a screen kiss or a huge explosion, to an individual or single family watching a shared screen at home, thanks to the cultural reprogramming of our responses to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sure the $3,499 goggles portend an interesting experience for an individual privileged person prone to FOMO. But Apple, seriously, do you think a family of four will all have their own Apple Vision Pro while the family enjoys their entertainment.

Realistically it might even be a stretch to think an elderly retired (and still privileged) couple will be holding hands on the couch while munching their un-salted un-buttered popcorn and each enjoying their Apple Vision Pro experience.

I just don’t think Apple will admit they know the adoption limitations. Are we close to everyone in the (privileged) family owning an iPhone? Probably. But this really ups the ante.

The Apple Vision Pro may be a fantastic device to innovate how we experience our world, programmers should scoop it up as a developer of tools. But the target audience for this particular device is still small compared to $1,000 for a phone. I thought it ridiculous to add the Pro moniker to the name. But I’m so naïve to overlook the grand design:
2023 Apple Vision Pro with wired battery
2024 Apple Vision and Apple Vision Max
2025 Apple Vision Ultra on-board battery.

On a more serious note, I don’t think it will be a healthy experience for many people because it may just be too immersive in an artificial world. For example, someone that may be occasionally troubled by hallucinations, may fall into a very deep hole. At the start of a show, we often see the warning that the show contains flashing lights so some epileptics may not watch the show. What will be the warning with the Apple Vision Pro viewing of disturbing scenes?

Question:
How do you know something is art?
Answer:
It has a frame around it.

Today even the unreal experience of a Marvel movie can be somewhat contained because the image on the television or in the theatre still has a frame around it. So our brains understand that this horror or this movement is part of a container. When you put on goggles that virtually surround you with audio and visualizations, your brain has lost its recognition of boundaries; the frame defining art is gone.

What next?
The answer has already been suggested:
Brain implants.

While I'm much more concerned about the implications of AI in our everyday lives and for income, this is typical Apple. They are always late to the show, but without big noise they are developing something impressive (like their silicon).
At first, while nobody around is able to compete, they'll try to make as much of their development costs as possible with the happy few, who don't have to think about money. But sooner or later it'll trickle down to a 'Pro'vision SE.

Sure the $3,499 goggles portend an interesting experience for an individual privileged person prone to FOMO. But Apple, seriously, do you think a family of four will all have their own Apple Vision Pro while the family enjoys their entertainment.

I see another problem were entertainment will be an individual and isolated experience. Further expanding the experience of 2020. The social construct as we know may not be the norm for future generations if things continue as we are seeing. A world of isolated beings who just casually glance at each other as they pass by. People working from home using ai as a coworker, having what ever they need shiped to their homes.The young contact each other by text and social media. Who knows if the future they will talking and comunication with AI that mimics a human. We could all be living our lives with goggles seeing the world as we and someone wants us to see it. every one will have their own world.

Ricardo Marty

I have had so many headsets. First one was FPV googles soon 20 years ago, and that actually was immersive seeing your self flying the drone, put image quality very poor at that time. And it was not virtual nor augmented, just reality via googles

Next one was Sony 3D viewing device, low resolution but good quality OLED screens. Not bad and it can take normal HMDI input, It was not for me to wear such device for video content.

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Then got actual VR headset, and quite honestly used more time setting it up than using it. This is just the VR HW, then add the powerful computer and the SW that was biggest problem, just a nightmare, but google maps was fun experience when it worked, and tested some games also. probably spend less than 10 hours actually using it. This was pretty expensive setup, with computer around the same as Apple Vision Pro.

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Got also the Meta headset. this is a see trough AR headset. I got it uses 250€ just to test, interesting but found no practical use for it.

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Then got the original Oculus Quest, and that actually puts all above together at affordable price, has pretty much the HW features as Apple Vision Pro has (except eye tracking), and I think I paid less than 300€ for it. But the Oculus Quest SW and use cases are bad. Small easy to fix mistakes, and the last one was the FB is forcing to associate it with FB account, It has been bricked since that, have not used it for long time.

I do think the Apple Vision Pro does many things right, and has huge potential, that potential is difficult to show to people without them actually testing it. However it is heavy, uncomfortable to wear many hours, and expensive, 10x too expensive for mass markets.

Will I get it, pretty sure that not next year and probably not even year after, but when it is mature enough it will be hard to resist.

If it comes popular it will change everything for ever like smart phones did. Good or bad, I can not tell.In Finland it is easy to escape to nature when it gets too overwhelming, and I often do.

2017 I developed couple of unique 360 Video gimbals, well suited also for 3D video.

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They found some use cases, and they where very well liked, just couple of switches to operate and very solid build.

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This one with 8 of BMD Micro Studio cameras

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However the timing was wrong. At NAB 2017 there was a lot 360, 2018 360 was dead.



Now there is pretty good SW stabilisation and AI that soon will generate true 3D environments with 3D actors, but meanwhile I hope the LeViteZer 360 Pro gimbal would find some uses cases boosted by this Apple announcement.

I mean I think the Apple VR headset is still a solution looking for a problem at that pricepoint but in what world does that Oculus Quest have the same hardware as the Apple Vision Pro beyond surface level descriptions.

The Oculus Quest absolutely does not have same HW. Much worse displays, much less calculating power, much worse cameras. and no eye tracking.

But it does track well the head movements, it can detect hand gestures, it can see trough the cameras. That Quest is failing is not because of HW or price, but SW.

Maybe the problem is, that VR headsets are not solving a problem.

It wouldn’t surprise me that years down the road, we shall find Apple Vision Pro has created a problem. Increasing isolation, disconnect, anxiety, distrust, ultimately increasing loneliness.

The technology continues to evolve in a direction that encourages indetectable deep fake (an avatar that is not a harmless cartoon character but a ‘real’ persona that pretends to be you or Putin). Grimes is already inviting anyone to use her voice to sing your song. One small step for a woman, one giant leap for a culture of deception. To Apple they’re simply chasing a new profit generator. Reminds me of the rationale of that drug company that justified their push for profits beyond any concern for the potential for harm to their customers addicted to painkillers.

You can tell I’ll never be invited to sit on the board of Apple or (thankfully) invited to tea at the Kremlin.

Today even the unreal experience of a Marvel movie can be somewhat contained because the image on the television or in the theatre still has a frame around it. So our brains understand that this horror or this movement is part of a container. When you put on goggles that virtually surround you with audio and visualizations, your brain has lost its recognition of boundaries; the frame defining art is gone.

But what this product offers is exactly that, simulated or remote experience, not art. It's a bit like psychoactive drugs,except the hallucination is programmed or pre-determined by the user. Eventually they'll run commercials. Or you'll grant access to your brain (for marketing purposes, of course) for play credits.

Unlikely it will be of much interest to older adults, but you have to wonder if the very young have the attention span. Video games are today far more profitable than movies, but without that constant stimulation.... Reality without significant adulteration is too boring for goggles. The whole thing could turn into one endless Zoom meeting of insufferable talking icons.

Or, people may eventually conclude that if you want to escape your ego for an hour or two, someone or other, not Apple or Mark Zuckerberg, invented a protocol for that a few thousand years ago: storytelling. One form is called movies.

The biggest issue with any 3D tech for movies for the last 100 years (The Power of Love is the first 3D movie screened for a commercial audience, in Los Angeles 1920) was that they simply didn’t contribute anything to the story.

This Apple thing could turn out to produce great experiences in games ect but the medium 'movie' doesn't benefit much from 3D.

Quite contrary to Smell-O-Vision of course! When the day comes that this beautiful technology will fill our sniffers with the magic odors of the toilets of Slytherin or the iron stench from Tom Cruise's midnight snack in Interview With a Vampire, we shall storm the cinemas again!

https://www.wired.com/2006/12/a-brief-history-2-2/

Two songs come in mind, Jamiroquai - Virtual Insanity, the state we are now, and when we are all done it is time for Tea In The Sahara (The Police)

But I do not think it is all that bad, it also will have its upsides, connecting people far away, providing experiences for people who can not travel etc. but when it comes popular. it is indeed scary what it will do to us. Some will be addicted for sure, some will be isolated for sure. And we all will be affected.

As for Cinematography it could find its ways also for editing, It is powerful spatial computer with M2 chip. I wonder if it will run DaVinci Resolve in future. That is if the screen is good enough and for that price it should be.

Ps. the sound stage of the Tea In The Sahara is magical on LP, sadly destroyed on the digital recordings.

It wouldn’t surprise me that years down the road, we shall find Apple Vision Pro has created a problem. Increasing isolation, disconnect, anxiety, distrust, ultimately increasing loneliness.

The technology continues to evolve in a direction that encourages indetectable deep fake (an avatar that is not a harmless cartoon character but a ‘real’ persona that pretends to be you or Putin). Grimes is already inviting anyone to use her voice to sing your song. One small step for a woman, one giant leap for a culture of deception. To Apple they’re simply chasing a new profit generator. Reminds me of the rationale of that drug company that justified their push for profits beyond any concern for the potential for harm to their customers addicted to painkillers.

You can tell I’ll never be invited to sit on the board of Apple or (thankfully) invited to tea at the Kremlin.

... we ... find the internet has created a problem. Increasing isolation, disconnect, anxiety, distrust, ultimately increasing loneliness. ...

Fixed that for you.

Cheers.

Apple named it "Apple Vision Pro" so they have the option to name a future, less-expensive product intended for the mass-market "Apple Vision". Just as they do with their other product lines.

The "Vision Pro" was announced at Apple's developer conference so developers can start designing software and hardware for use with it. Its SDK will be available in a few weeks. Developers will have a field day with Vision Pro!

It's important to remember Vision Pro is a fairly powerful general-purpose COMPUTER in addition to being a >4K 3D/2D display & camera system. The possibilities of what can be done with such a device are extremely flexible.

For example, I'm sure Blackmagic already has multiple ideas, both hardware & software. Imagine a future camera with an encrypted, low-latency WiFi-6 VIDEO & CAMERA CONTROL OUTPUT compatible with Vision Pro. Why use a low-tech, low-quality EVF or monitor when Vision Pro can be worn by key on-set personnel, each seeing & INTERACTING with high-quality camera output PLUS computer data such as script, storyboard, video & audio tech waveforms, etc. in virtual windows, arranged (or muted) in virtual space. With high-quality audio. All securely managed according to each user's needs/job. Users would be able to instantly dial in/out the on-set reality at any time using the Vision Pro dial. Yes, a crazy example, but not totally far-fetched. Something like this will happen.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, developers of solutions for manufacturing, engineering, medicine, architecture, education, disability/accessibility, etc. are likely racing to create products based on Vision Pro. In many of these cases, the $3,500 price of the Vision Pro would be a small percentage of the overall solution's cost. These are not small markets. Within a year or two from now, Apple could easily sell many hundreds of thousands (and eventually millions) of Vision Pro for these non-consumer applications.

If Vision Pro succeeds, which I think it will, in about a year Apple will announce the less-expensive, lighter-weight "Apple Vision" model. Given Apple's rapid development of custom silicon, the new model will probably be more capable that "today's" (not yet shipping) Vision Pro. And compatible with most/all software developed for Vision Pro. And there'll be an even more capable "Vision Pro II". Rinse. Repeat.

And yes, some people will find all sort of horrible, anti-social uses for a powerful device such as Vision Pro. Same as it ever was. That's why Apple and society will need to manage its use with common-sense built-in design limitations and legal regulation. True, there hasn't been a good track record for this in many cases, but an effort should be made.

The future looks bright. Some of us with money (or forward-thinking employers) will be able to wear Vision Pro.

Cheers.

Well, years ago I tried the Zeiss Cinemizer for some gimbal work in a very low position. Apart from insufficient resolution, which allowed only for framing, an assistent had to steer me not to run into tree branches.
The Apple thingy with much better resolution and peripheral vision might be interesting for this.
And then, seeing the frame much like the audience in a theatre will see it should be much better for composition than on a small monitor.

Hopefully they provide some means to get HDMI into the device at good quality and low latency.

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Some generic HDMI to ethernet to WLAN would work, but complex.

Good point!
Knowing Apple, it might connect only with an iPhone for camera

BMD and Apple have been co-operating in past many times, so maybe next BMD camera will have link to Apple Vision Pro, to completely control the camera, navigation on the menus with eyes, and getting viewfinder image directly from camera via WLAN.

And BTW, as the Vision Pro has LIDAR and probably pretty good 3D model of the surroundings, knowing also where the camera is, it could well assist also on focusing.

Sometimes the history holds surprises. If this truly was made 1930 it is quite amazing.

Future of good cinematography, as it has been for the past Century, will always be about conveying human emotions, regardless the technique and tools...

There has been lately many video about the Original Pocket Camera. It tells something, not quite sure what. I find it interesting, I still use mine Micro Cinema Camera, though have also P4k and P6k available.

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What a great stop-motion animation! And even touching the subject of recycling at that time. Bravo!

This demonstration let me think of another way of consuming content.

Ok "goscreen" : I have one hour and I want a love story with one male and one female in a paradise isle.
For characters start with George Clooney and Lauren Bacal.

AI will create story, create dialogues, animate characters in virtual reality.

Technology is moving ahead but we can use it with cleverness

Without even a hint of irony, creeps of the world rejoice!

Good Luck

The AI generations today make me feel like after visiting modern art museum, sick. For some reason I anyway do it occasionally, always with the same result.

But it is AI today. Thinking of Internet 1995, it is not only speed that has improved, but fidelity. Content though...