PARIS — French adult film production company Marc Dorcel has plans to release its own virtual reality movie that stiches in 3D footage later this month.
Ghislain Faribeault, vice president of Marc Dorcel’s media division, told Euronews at Cannes’ MIPCOM, that the porn studio took eight months to find partners, shoot the scene with the help of equipment rigged with 14 Go-Pro videos and process the video in postproduction.
“So far, every VR adult movie I had seen was CGI, but the audience is not interested; they want real flesh and skin,” Faribeault said. “For this 3D 360-degree project, being the very first was not our goal, we were rather aiming for a sleek final product. We first thought about going public last April, but we had to push back.”
One of the key tricks of getting a VR production on firm footing, Faribeault said, is setting up the “illusion” because you can’t put the camera rig on the actor’s head, “or you’ll get sea-sick in 30 seconds.”
And, the entire set needs to be considered, as well, because there is no predicting whether the user, whose view is panoramic, will keep his eyes on the actual sex depicted in VR.
“The writing process is entirely different too,” said Faribeault, noting that the set, which needs to cover 360 degrees, creates complications because it goes past the traditional 120 degrees in front of the camera.
Looking from the performers’ view, adult star Anna Polina told Euronews that with a VR production actors need to stay in specific spots or “lanes” for the 360 degrees to work once the footage is assembled.
“[W]e had to shoot the demo in a single sequence-shot,” Polina said. “For this 150-second scene involving five actresses [instead of two], the shooting started at 9:30 in the morning and lasted until 4:30 the same afternoon, with several rehearsals.”
Marc Dorcel’s VR film, a nod to mainstream movie “Back to the Future 2,” is slated to go on sale Oct. 21, and will be available in two versions, 10 and 15 minutes.
“You can’t yet fast-forward on head-mounted VR displays, so we don’t want people to get bored because they can’t jump to their favorite part,” Faribeault said.
At the end of the day, Marc Dorcel spent 10 times in production costs than on a 2D film, Faribeault said.
“We are lucky to be a self-financed company, and not have to worry about a specific business plan for this endeavor, so we can embark on experiments like this, even if it will be a loss leader,” he said. “It’s in the company’s DNA to innovate, maybe because we are more nimble than others.”
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