a16z Podcast: Writing a New Language of Storytelling with Virtual Reality

Episode Summary

Executive Summary: Chris Milk argues VR is a new storytelling medium whose core strength is presence and empathy, not conventional film grammar. He explains that effective VR often differs from first-person games or camera-heavy movies, because comfort, embodiment, and emotional transport matter most. He also discusses UN-driven nonfiction projects, early studio marketing uses, social/shared VR, technical constraints, and why adoption will likely grow as hardware, content, and distribution mature.

Main Topics: VR as a new storytelling language (Priority: 5/5): Milk frames virtual reality as an emerging medium still learning its basic vocabulary. He says creators are not yet at the stage of full grammar, but are figuring out how to make meaningful experiences that work inside embodied, immersive perception. Presence and empathy as VR's core value (Priority: 5/5): The conversation centers on Milk's claim that VR creates a uniquely powerful sense of presence that can make users feel emotionally connected to people and places they would never otherwise encounter. What works and what fails in VR production (Priority: 5/5): Milk explains that violent first-person games often feel bad in VR because the user inhabits the body of the character. He says steadier, calmer, and more transportive experiences tend to work better, and that camera movement must be designed around human physiology. Nonfiction VR and social impact (Priority: 4/5): Milk describes documentary-style work with the United Nations, including refugee and Ebola-related stories, as early proof that VR can help audiences and decision-makers understand distant suffering and motivate action. Shared experiences and social VR (Priority: 4/5): The discussion explores whether VR can replicate the communal feeling of theaters. Milk argues VR is fundamentally different from cinema but may still support collective experiences through new forms of social interaction rather than traditional moviegoing. Technical limits, hardware, and distribution (Priority: 4/5): Milk covers nausea, camera constraints, file sizes, and streaming. He says version-one cinematic VR is a spherical stereo video player with directional binaural audio, and that hardware is advancing faster than content or business models. Timeline for mass adoption (Priority: 3/5): The speakers discuss when major studios and mass audiences will embrace VR. Milk suggests studios are already using it for promos, while broad adoption depends on headset availability, content creation, and improving user experience.

Key Arguments: VR is not just a new format for old movies; it requires a new language of storytelling because the viewer is inside the experience rather than watching from outside. The default state in VR is belief, not disbelief, because the medium directly engages the body's senses and presence. Traditional first-person shooter mechanics often fail in VR because being 'shot at' feels too real when the user inhabits the character's body. Nonfiction VR can be especially powerful because audiences instantly understand that they are experiencing real events from a camera perspective. VR can be an 'ultimate empathy machine' by transporting viewers into the lives of refugees, Ebola survivors, and other people in distant or difficult circumstances. Camera movement must be designed around vestibular comfort; acceleration and deceleration matter more than constant velocity when moving the viewpoint. The strongest VR experiences may not be full-length films but new kinds of immersive narratives whose structure has yet to be invented. VR may remain different from cinema in its social form, but it can still enable collective experiences through new venues or shared interactions. The current business opportunity is strongest in marketing, short-form experiences, and platform development while the medium matures. Hardware is moving quickly, but content and distribution remain the weakest parts of the ecosystem, making adoption timing difficult to predict.

Data Points: First film with UN: Syrian refugee camp story shot in Jordan - Milk says his team made a VR film about a 12-year-old girl named Sidra who fled to a camp and had lived there for about a year and a half. Second nonprofit film location: Liberia - Milk describes a VR film about a woman who survived Ebola, is now immune, and helps educate and support her community. Nonfiction film length: 5 to 7 minutes - Milk says version-one cinematic VR experiences are generally in this range. File size for version one: Under 1 gigabyte - He says current cinematic VR files are under a gigabyte for 5-7 minute pieces at maximum acceptable compression. Adoption estimate: Somewhere between 1 and 10 years - Milk gives a rough timeline for VR becoming a mass medium. Possible near-term headset sales: Half a million to many million in a year - He speculates that headset sales could range widely depending on market conditions. Current VR format: Spherical video player with stereo vision and directionally changing binaural audio - Milk defines version one of cinematic VR. Elevator analogy: Zero to 60 in one frame versus accelerated rise - He says VR camera moves need acceleration to evoke physical sensation like rising in an elevator.

Pivotal Quotes: "virtual reality is like, it is the ultimate empathy machine." — Chris Milk: Milk summarizes his thesis on why VR matters emotionally and socially. "It's not going to be about making a movie in virtual reality. It's about figuring out what the equivalent of a movie is" — Chris Milk: He explains that VR needs its own narrative form rather than simply copying cinema. "the technology actually allows the jump from it being like an observable technology to being a human interface" — Chris Milk: Milk argues VR is unique because it becomes embodied and non-observable to the user.

Implications: VR’s near-term winners may be short, highly immersive experiences in documentaries, promos, and social applications. Long-term success depends on solving comfort, content language, and distribution while leveraging VR’s unmatched potential for presence and empathy.