rlm@Hudson.Stanford.EDU (Robert L. Miller) (03/08/91)
THE VIRTUAL REALITY FILM DOCUMENTARY
A Special for PBS
The moderator of this group has encouraged me to post information
about the documentary I am producing in association with KTEH, the San
Jose, California, PBS station.
Research & Development
To be brief (because I appreciate brief messages as much as anyone on
the net) the documentary has been in development since January of
1990. Since then, 167 VR-related scientists, developers and industry
insiders have contributed 187 documents and consented to the release
of 38 hours of videotape in support of this project. My thanks to
those of you reading this message who have sent your material to us.
This documentary could not be made without the support of people like
you.
Filmmaker's Approach
The theme from digesting this information is a documentary about
people creating new worlds by manipulating their senses. A structure
that, we believe, will convey to the public the origins of virtual
reality, what it is today, and its potential impact on our lives.
Overall, the documentary will show the human drive to interact with
information in ways our bodies are naturally designed--through our
senses.
Currently.....
Like many endeavors in VR, the documentary has just entered the
fund-raising stage. A comprehensive proposal and letter of PBS
support are available to interested sponsors. If you send contact
information for the appropriate person in your organization (generally
someone in promotion & PR), I will send them a proposal. We are also
producing a video to supplement the proposal.
Meanwhile....
I am interested in the hard questions of virtual reality--anything
that can wrestle the mind of a VR researcher--and scenes we can create
to visualize the potential of virtual reality. We've thought of a
few, but welcome more from the net. I cannot promise individual
recognition for suggestions that may be used in the documentary. And
if recognition is important to you, please do not send me anything.
(If this message is forwarded, included that last request). We will,
of course, be recognizing a lot of VR people as it is. And if there
is a response to this message, I will certainly give collective credit
to sci.virtual-worlds and the spirit of 'the net,' which, in my
opinion, is a cyberspace in its own right.
Please excuse the bandwidth of this message, it's not nearly as brief
as I'd like....
Robert Miller
Producer
THE VIRTUAL REALITY FILM DOCUMENTARY
2330 Williams St.
Palo Alto, CA 94306
415 725-7398 (fax)
rlm@cs.stanford.edu