0:00:01.354,0:00:05.950 Virtual reality started for me[br]in sort of an unusual place. 0:00:06.976,0:00:09.173 It was the 1970s. 0:00:09.173,0:00:12.383 I got into the field very young:[br]I was seven years old. 0:00:12.383,0:00:17.245 And the tool that I used [br]to access virtual reality 0:00:17.245,0:00:20.810 was the Evel Knievel stunt cycle. 0:00:20.810,0:00:23.201 This is a commercial for [br]that particular item: 0:00:23.201,0:00:24.776 (Video) Voice-over: What a jump! 0:00:24.776,0:00:26.767 Evel's riding the amazing stunt cycle. 0:00:26.767,0:00:29.536 That gyro-power sends him [br]over 100 feet at top speed. 0:00:29.536,0:00:31.628 Chris Milk: So this was my joy back then. 0:00:31.628,0:00:34.587 I rode this motorcycle everywhere. 0:00:34.587,0:00:38.847 And I was there with Evel Knievel; we [br]jumped the Snake River Canyon together. 0:00:38.847,0:00:40.216 I wanted the rocket. 0:00:40.216,0:00:42.996 I never got the rocket,[br]I only got the motorcycle. 0:00:45.626,0:00:48.203 I felt so connected to this world. 0:00:48.203,0:00:52.440 I didn't want to be a storyteller [br]when I grew up, I wanted to be stuntman. 0:00:52.440,0:00:55.644 I was there. Evel Knievel was my friend. 0:00:55.644,0:00:58.027 I had so much empathy for him. 0:00:58.747,0:01:01.358 But it didn't work out. (Laughter) 0:01:01.358,0:01:03.382 I went to art school. 0:01:03.382,0:01:05.792 I started making music videos. 0:01:05.792,0:01:08.866 And this is one of the early[br]music videos that I made: 0:01:08.866,0:01:14.756 (Music: "Touch the Sky" by Kanye West) 0:01:14.756,0:01:18.032 CM: You may notice [br]some slight similarities here. 0:01:18.032,0:01:19.818 (Laughter) 0:01:19.818,0:01:22.461 And I got that rocket. 0:01:22.461,0:01:25.104 (Laughter) 0:01:25.104,0:01:29.509 So, now I'm a filmmaker,[br]or, the beginning of a filmmaker, 0:01:29.509,0:01:33.243 and I started using the tools that are[br]available to me as a filmmaker 0:01:33.243,0:01:37.831 to try to tell the most compelling stories[br]that I can to an audience. 0:01:37.831,0:01:40.980 And film is this incredible medium[br]that allows us to feel empathy 0:01:40.980,0:01:43.006 for people that are very different than us 0:01:43.006,0:01:45.838 and worlds completely [br]foreign from our own. 0:01:45.838,0:01:46.668 Unfortunately, 0:01:46.668,0:01:51.527 Evel Knievel did not feel the same [br]empathy for us that we felt for him, 0:01:51.527,0:01:54.330 and he sued us for this video -- 0:01:54.330,0:01:56.061 (Laughter) -- 0:01:56.061,0:01:58.110 shortly thereafter. 0:01:58.110,0:02:02.950 On the upside, the man [br]that I worshipped as a child, 0:02:02.950,0:02:06.066 the man that I wanted [br]to become as an adult, 0:02:06.066,0:02:09.906 I was finally able to get his autograph. 0:02:10.556,0:02:13.902 (Applause) 0:02:17.832,0:02:22.849 Let's talk about film now. 0:02:22.849,0:02:25.745 Film, it's an incredible medium, 0:02:25.745,0:02:29.060 but essentially, it's the same[br]now as it was then. 0:02:29.060,0:02:32.529 It's a group of rectangles that are[br]played in a sequence. 0:02:32.529,0:02:36.362 And we've done incredible things[br]with those rectangles. 0:02:36.362,0:02:39.247 But I started thinking about, 0:02:39.247,0:02:43.616 is there a way that I can use modern[br]and developing technologies 0:02:43.616,0:02:45.741 to tell stories in different ways 0:02:45.741,0:02:47.482 and tell different kinds of stories 0:02:47.482,0:02:51.793 that maybe I couldn't tell using[br]the traditional tools of filmmaking 0:02:51.793,0:02:53.964 that we've been using for 100 years? 0:02:53.964,0:02:56.785 So I started experimenting, 0:02:56.785,0:03:01.874 and what I was trying to do was[br]to build the ultimate empathy machine. 0:03:03.054,0:03:05.588 And here's one of the early experiments: 0:03:05.588,0:03:08.412 (Music) 0:03:08.412,0:03:10.656 So this is called[br]"The Wilderness Downtown." 0:03:10.656,0:03:12.712 It was a collaboration with Arcade Fire. 0:03:12.712,0:03:16.362 It asked you to put in the address[br]where you grew up at the beginning of it. 0:03:16.362,0:03:17.359 It's a website. 0:03:17.359,0:03:22.275 And out of it starts growing these little[br]boxes with different browser windows. 0:03:22.275,0:03:24.657 And you see this teenager [br]running down a street, 0:03:24.657,0:03:27.415 and then you see Google Street View[br]and Google Maps imagery 0:03:27.415,0:03:29.939 and you realize the street[br]he's running down is yours. 0:03:29.939,0:03:34.048 And when he stops in front of a house,[br]he stops in front of your house. 0:03:35.735,0:03:39.417 And this was great, and I saw people [br]having an even deeper emotional reaction 0:03:39.417,0:03:42.631 to this than the things that [br]I had made in rectangles. 0:03:42.631,0:03:46.562 And I'm essentially taking [br]a piece of your history 0:03:46.562,0:03:49.981 and putting it inside [br]the framing of the story. 0:03:49.981,0:03:51.578 But then I started thinking, 0:03:51.578,0:03:53.430 okay, well that's a part of you, 0:03:53.430,0:03:58.731 but how do I put all of you[br]inside of the frame? 0:03:58.731,0:04:01.834 So to do that, I started[br]making art installations. 0:04:01.834,0:04:04.374 And this is one called [br]"The Treachery of Sanctuary." 0:04:04.374,0:04:07.392 It's a triptych. I'm going to show[br]you the third panel. 0:04:07.392,0:04:11.230 (Music) 0:04:31.260,0:04:34.848 So now I've got you inside of the frame, 0:04:34.848,0:04:39.403 and I saw people having even more[br]visceral emotional reactions 0:04:39.403,0:04:42.080 to this work than the previous one. 0:04:42.080,0:04:46.230 But then I started thinking about frames,[br]and what do they represent? 0:04:46.230,0:04:48.487 And a frame is just a window. 0:04:48.487,0:04:51.566 I mean, all the media that we watch --[br]television, cinema -- 0:04:51.566,0:04:53.819 they're these windows into [br]these other worlds. 0:04:53.819,0:04:56.507 And I thought, well, great. [br]I got you in a frame. 0:04:56.507,0:04:59.634 But I don't want you in the frame,[br]I don't want you in the window, 0:04:59.634,0:05:02.523 I want you through the window,[br]I want you on the other side, 0:05:02.523,0:05:05.598 in the world, inhabiting the world. 0:05:06.218,0:05:09.123 So that leads me back to virtual reality. 0:05:09.123,0:05:11.344 Let's talk about virtual reality. 0:05:12.634,0:05:13.934 Unfortunately,[br] 0:05:13.934,0:05:18.423 talking about virtual reality[br]is like dancing about architecture. 0:05:18.423,0:05:25.340 And this is actually someone dancing[br]about architecture in virtual reality. 0:05:25.340,0:05:27.823 (Laughter) 0:05:27.823,0:05:31.084 So, it's difficult to explain.[br]Why is it difficult to explain? 0:05:31.084,0:05:34.782 It's difficult because it's a very [br]experiential medium. 0:05:34.782,0:05:36.698 You feel your way inside of it. 0:05:36.698,0:05:38.496 It's a machine, but inside of it, 0:05:38.496,0:05:41.945 it feels like real life,[br]it feels like truth. 0:05:41.945,0:05:44.466 And you feel present in the world[br]that you're inside 0:05:44.466,0:05:47.689 and you feel present with the people[br]that you're inside of it with.[br] 0:05:47.689,0:05:51.785 So, I'm going to show you a demo[br]of a virtual reality film: 0:05:51.785,0:05:54.006 a full-screeen version of[br]all the information 0:05:54.006,0:05:56.209 that we capture when[br]we shoot virtual reality. 0:05:56.209,0:05:58.034 So we're shooting in every direction. 0:05:58.034,0:06:00.210 This is a camera system that we built 0:06:00.210,0:06:03.235 that has 3D cameras that look[br]in every direction 0:06:03.235,0:06:05.987 and binaural microphones[br]that face in very direction. 0:06:05.987,0:06:11.333 We take this and we build, basically,[br]a sphere of a world that you inhabit. 0:06:11.333,0:06:14.736 So what I'm going to show you[br]is not a view into the world, 0:06:14.736,0:06:18.107 it's basically the whole world[br]stretched into a rectangle. 0:06:18.107,0:06:21.495 So this film is called [br]"Clouds Over Sidra," 0:06:21.495,0:06:25.989 and it was made in conjunction with [br]our virtual reality company called VRSE 0:06:25.989,0:06:27.755 and the United Nations, 0:06:27.755,0:06:30.788 and a co-collaborator named Gabo Arora. 0:06:30.788,0:06:34.625 And we went to a Syrian refugee camp[br]in Jordan in December 0:06:34.625,0:06:38.982 and shot the story of a 12-year-old[br]girl there named Sidra. 0:06:38.982,0:06:42.473 And she and her family fled Syria[br]through the desert into Jordan 0:06:42.473,0:06:46.567 and she's been living in this[br]camp for the last year and a half. 0:06:48.207,0:06:50.720 (Video) Sidra: My name is Sidra, 0:06:50.720,0:06:52.616 I am 12-years-old. 0:06:52.616,0:06:54.418 I am in the fifth grade. 0:06:54.418,0:06:59.605 I am from Syria in the Daraa province[br]in (?). 0:06:59.605,0:07:04.843 I have lived here in the Zaatari camp[br]in Jordan for the last year and a half. 0:07:06.923,0:07:08.931 I have a big family:[br] 0:07:08.931,0:07:11.697 Three brothers, one is a baby. 0:07:11.697,0:07:15.142 He cries a lot. 0:07:15.142,0:07:20.197 I asked my father if I cried when [br]I was a baby and he says I did not. 0:07:20.197,0:07:23.821 I think I was a stronger baby[br]than my brother." 0:07:23.821,0:07:26.281 Chris Milk: So, when you're inside [br]of the headset. 0:07:26.281,0:07:28.351 you're not seeing it like this. 0:07:28.351,0:07:30.423 You're looking around through this world. 0:07:30.423,0:07:35.711 You'll notice you see full[br]360 degrees in all directions. 0:07:35.711,0:07:38.662 And when you're sitting there[br]in her room, watching her, 0:07:38.662,0:07:41.115 you're not watching it through[br]a television screen, 0:07:41.115,0:07:44.523 you're not watching it through a window,[br]you're sitting there with her. 0:07:44.523,0:07:48.896 When you look down, you're sitting[br]on the same ground that she's sitting on. 0:07:48.915,0:07:50.666 And because of that, 0:07:50.666,0:07:55.054 you feel her humanity in a deeper way. 0:07:55.054,0:07:59.590 You empathize with her in a deeper way. 0:07:59.590,0:08:05.917 And I think that we can change[br]minds with this machine. 0:08:05.917,0:08:09.690 And we've already started[br]to try to change a few. 0:08:09.690,0:08:14.536 So we took this film to the World Economic[br]Forum in Davos in January. 0:08:14.536,0:08:17.022 And we showed it to a group of people 0:08:17.022,0:08:21.102 whose decisions affect the lives[br]of millions of people. 0:08:21.102,0:08:24.200 And these are people [br]who might not otherwise 0:08:24.200,0:08:29.624 be sitting in a tent [br]in a refugee camp in Jordan. 0:08:29.624,0:08:35.813 But, in January, one afternoon[br]in Switzerland, 0:08:35.813,0:08:39.429 they suddenly all found themselves there. 0:08:40.309,0:08:44.489 (Applause) 0:08:46.999,0:08:49.058 And they were affected by it. 0:08:49.058,0:08:52.374 So we're going to make more of them. 0:08:52.374,0:08:55.460 We're working with the [br]United Nations right now 0:08:55.460,0:08:57.515 to shoot a whole series of these films. 0:08:57.515,0:09:00.187 We just finished shooting[br]a story in Liberia. 0:09:00.187,0:09:03.633 And now, we're going [br]to shoot a story in India. 0:09:03.633,0:09:05.511 And we're taking these films, 0:09:05.511,0:09:08.036 and we're showing them [br]at the United Nations 0:09:08.036,0:09:11.023 to people that work there and people[br]who are visiting there. 0:09:11.023,0:09:12.810 And we're showing [br]them to the people 0:09:12.810,0:09:17.274 that can actually change the lives[br]of the people inside of the films. 0:09:17.274,0:09:20.955 And that's where I think we just[br]start to scratch the surface 0:09:20.955,0:09:24.614 of the true power of virtual reality. 0:09:24.614,0:09:26.835 It's not a video game peripheral. 0:09:26.835,0:09:31.408 It connects humans to other humans[br]in a profound way 0:09:31.408,0:09:34.873 that I've never seen before [br]in any other form of media. 0:09:34.873,0:09:38.612 And it can change people's[br]perception of each other. 0:09:38.612,0:09:40.298 And that's how I think 0:09:40.298,0:09:43.734 virtual reality has the potential[br]to actually change the world. 0:09:46.604,0:09:49.151 So, it's a machine, 0:09:49.151,0:09:54.074 but through this machine[br]we become more compassionate, 0:09:54.074,0:09:59.667 we become more empathetic,[br]and we become more connected. 0:09:59.667,0:10:03.521 And ultimately, we become more human. 0:10:04.491,0:10:05.651 Thank you. 0:10:05.651,0:10:08.771 (Applause)