Empathy Engine, The: VR Documentary and Deep Connection

Article sample: 

Generating empathy in their characters is surely every director's goal, but can virtual reality generate a genuine, deeper connection between the subjects of films and an increasingly connected/disconnected audience, and is that a desirable goal anyway? Not everyone in the VR doc community eulogises like [Chris] Milk. Many believe the current technology is in a transitional, Betamax, phase. 'Most of what these adventurous folks (myself included) are producing is terrible, which is as it should be,' says Janet Murray, Professor of the Digital Media Graduate Program at Georgia Tech. 'Expanding new formats is difficult work.'  Or as Werner Herzog puts it: 'We have a technology but no clear idea how to fill it with content.'

About Senses of Cinema:

Senses of Cinema is an online journal devoted to the serious and eclectic discussion of cinema. We believe cinema is an art that can take many forms, from the industrially-produced blockbuster to the hand-crafted experimental work; we also aim to encourage awareness of the histories of such diverse forms. As an Australian-based journal, we have a special commitment to the regular, wide-ranging analysis and critique of Australian cinema, past and present. Senses of Cinema is primarily concerned with ideas about particular films or bodies of work, but also with the regimes (ideological, economic and so forth) under which films are produced and viewed, and with the more abstract theoretical and philosophical issues raised by film study.