0:00:02.134,0:00:03.293
When I was a kid,

0:00:03.317,0:00:05.825
I experienced something so powerful,

0:00:05.849,0:00:08.923
I spent the rest of my life[br]searching for it,

0:00:08.947,0:00:10.459
and in all the wrong places.

0:00:11.327,0:00:13.920
What I experienced wasn't virtual reality.

0:00:14.633,0:00:15.816
It was music.

0:00:16.251,0:00:18.547
And this is where the story begins.

0:00:19.797,0:00:21.167
That's me,

0:00:21.191,0:00:23.137
listening to the Beatles' "White Album."

0:00:23.161,0:00:26.329
And the look on my face is the feeling

0:00:26.353,0:00:29.099
that I've been searching for ever since.

0:00:29.938,0:00:32.524
Music goes straight to the emotional vein,

0:00:32.548,0:00:34.154
into your bloodstream

0:00:34.178,0:00:35.509
and right into your heart.

0:00:36.157,0:00:38.678
It deepens every experience.

0:00:39.717,0:00:40.883
Fellas?

0:00:41.454,0:00:45.672
(Music)

0:00:47.472,0:00:49.624
This is the amazing McKenzie Stubbert

0:00:49.648,0:00:51.527
and Joshua Roman.

0:00:51.551,0:00:52.714
Music --

0:00:52.738,0:00:53.932
(Applause)

0:00:53.956,0:00:55.114
Yep.

0:00:56.630,0:01:00.455
Music makes everything[br]have more emotional resonance.

0:01:01.229,0:01:03.158
Let's see how it does for this talk.

0:01:03.825,0:01:07.569
The right piece of music[br]at the right time fuses with us

0:01:07.593,0:01:08.918
on a cellular level.

0:01:09.382,0:01:11.662
When I hear that one song

0:01:12.502,0:01:13.805
from that one summer

0:01:14.488,0:01:15.665
with that one girl,

0:01:16.480,0:01:18.501
I'm instantly transported[br]back there again.

0:01:19.963,0:01:21.130
Hey, Stacey.

0:01:22.908,0:01:26.186
Here's a part of the story, though,[br]where I got a little greedy.

0:01:26.210,0:01:29.808
I thought if I added more layers[br]on top of the music,

0:01:30.394,0:01:33.646
I could make the feelings[br]even more powerful.

0:01:33.670,0:01:36.504
So I got into directing music videos.

0:01:37.432,0:01:38.906
Here's what they looked like.

0:01:42.429,0:01:43.672
That's my brother, Jeff.

0:01:44.799,0:01:46.121
Sorry about this, Jeff.

0:01:46.145,0:01:47.232
(Laughter)

0:01:47.256,0:01:49.203
Here's me, just so we're even.

0:01:50.682,0:01:51.885
Incredible moves.

0:01:52.444,0:01:53.785
Should've been a dancer.

0:01:53.809,0:01:54.931
(Laughter)

0:01:54.955,0:01:56.267
These experiments grew,

0:01:56.291,0:01:59.075
and in time, started[br]to look more like this.

0:02:01.852,0:02:04.492
In both, I'm searching[br]for the same thing, though,

0:02:04.516,0:02:07.175
to capture that lightning in a bottle.

0:02:08.192,0:02:09.865
Except, I'm not.

0:02:09.889,0:02:13.448
Adding moving pictures over the music[br]added narrative dimension, yes,

0:02:14.261,0:02:16.785
but never quite equated the power

0:02:16.809,0:02:19.553
that just raw music had for me on its own.

0:02:20.795,0:02:23.949
This is not a great thing to realize[br]when you've devoted your life

0:02:23.973,0:02:26.812
and professional career[br]to becoming a music video director.

0:02:26.836,0:02:29.137
I kept asking myself,[br]did I take the wrong path?

0:02:30.353,0:02:34.204
So I started thinking: if I could[br]involve you, the audience, more,

0:02:34.228,0:02:37.230
I might be able to make you[br]feel something more as well.

0:02:37.901,0:02:41.086
So Aaron Koblin and I began[br]auditioning new technologies

0:02:41.110,0:02:44.248
that could put more of you[br]inside of the work,

0:02:44.272,0:02:47.906
like your childhood home[br]in "The Wilderness Downtown,"

0:02:48.750,0:02:52.510
your hand-drawn portraits,[br]in "The Johnny Cash Project,"

0:02:53.581,0:02:54.981
and your interactive dreams

0:02:55.791,0:02:57.488
in "3 Dreams of Black."

0:02:59.469,0:03:01.426
We were pushing beyond the screen,

0:03:01.450,0:03:03.431
trying to connect more deeply

0:03:03.455,0:03:05.832
to people's hearts and imaginations.

0:03:06.745,0:03:08.091
But it wasn't quite enough.

0:03:09.258,0:03:14.057
It still didn't have the raw[br]experiential power of pure music for me.

0:03:15.443,0:03:17.504
So I started chasing a new technology

0:03:17.528,0:03:20.227
that I only had read about[br]in science fiction.

0:03:20.826,0:03:23.235
And after years of searching,[br]I found a prototype.

0:03:23.871,0:03:28.095
It was a project from Nonny de la Peña[br]in Mark Bolas's lab in USC.

0:03:29.102,0:03:32.170
And when I tried it, I knew I'd found it.

0:03:33.095,0:03:34.587
I could taste the lightning.

0:03:35.334,0:03:36.984
It was called virtual reality.

0:03:38.047,0:03:40.303
This was it five years ago[br]when I ran into it.

0:03:41.530,0:03:43.592
This is what it looks like now.

0:03:44.846,0:03:48.751
I quickly started building things[br]in this new medium,

0:03:48.775,0:03:50.992
and through that process[br]we realized something:

0:03:51.664,0:03:55.081
that VR is going to play[br]an incredibly important role

0:03:55.105,0:03:56.820
in the history of mediums.

0:03:57.681,0:04:00.398
In fact, it's going to be the last one.

0:04:01.390,0:04:05.005
I mean this because it's the first medium[br]that actually makes the jump

0:04:05.029,0:04:08.317
from our internalization[br]of an author's expression

0:04:08.341,0:04:10.011
of an experience,

0:04:10.035,0:04:12.687
to our experiencing it firsthand.

0:04:13.691,0:04:15.855
You look confused.[br]I'll explain. Don't worry.

0:04:15.879,0:04:17.273
(Laughter)

0:04:17.830,0:04:21.020
If we go back to the origins of mediums,

0:04:21.044,0:04:22.408
by all best guesses,

0:04:22.432,0:04:25.398
it starts around a fire,[br]with a good story.

0:04:25.986,0:04:27.451
Our clan leader is telling us

0:04:27.475,0:04:31.104
about how he hunted the woolly mammoth[br]on the tundra that day.

0:04:32.069,0:04:33.408
We hear his words

0:04:34.090,0:04:37.363
and translate them[br]into our own internal truths.

0:04:38.839,0:04:40.004
The same thing happens

0:04:40.028,0:04:42.670
when we look at the cave painting[br]version of the story,

0:04:44.241,0:04:45.824
the book about the mammoth hunt,

0:04:46.472,0:04:47.706
the play,

0:04:48.109,0:04:49.295
the radio broadcast,

0:04:49.749,0:04:50.914
the television show,

0:04:51.582,0:04:52.737
or the movie.

0:04:53.532,0:04:57.264
All of these mediums require[br]what we call "suspension of disbelief,"

0:04:57.288,0:05:01.346
because there's a translation gap[br]between the reality of the story

0:05:01.370,0:05:04.792
and our consciousness[br]interpreting the story

0:05:04.816,0:05:06.084
into our reality.

0:05:07.081,0:05:11.157
I'm using the word "consciousness"[br]as a feeling of reality that we get

0:05:11.181,0:05:14.517
from our senses experiencing[br]the world around us.

0:05:16.580,0:05:19.377
Virtual reality bridges that gap.

0:05:19.985,0:05:24.198
Now, you are on the tundra[br]hunting with the clan leader,

0:05:24.222,0:05:26.576
or you are the clan leader,

0:05:26.600,0:05:29.302
or maybe you're even the woolly mammoth.

0:05:29.326,0:05:30.961
(Laughter)

0:05:34.218,0:05:35.830
So here's what special about VR.

0:05:36.726,0:05:38.305
In all other mediums,

0:05:38.329,0:05:40.599
your consciousness interprets the medium.

0:05:41.044,0:05:45.214
In VR, your consciousness is the medium.

0:05:46.399,0:05:48.833
So the potential for VR is enormous.

0:05:48.857,0:05:50.531
But where are we now?

0:05:50.555,0:05:53.141
What is the current state of the art?

0:05:54.318,0:05:55.468
Well,

0:05:56.746,0:05:57.935
we are here.

0:05:58.724,0:06:01.872
We are the equivalent[br]of year one of cinema.

0:06:01.896,0:06:03.522
This is the Lumière Brothers film

0:06:03.546,0:06:06.905
that allegedly sent a theater full[br]of people running for their lives

0:06:06.929,0:06:09.222
as they thought a train[br]was coming toward them.

0:06:10.136,0:06:13.412
Similar to this early stage of ths medium,

0:06:13.436,0:06:16.977
in VR, we also have to move[br]past the spectacle

0:06:17.001,0:06:18.887
and into the storytelling.

0:06:18.911,0:06:20.658
It took this medium decades

0:06:20.682,0:06:23.340
to figure out its preferred[br]language of storytelling,

0:06:23.364,0:06:25.140
in the form of a feature film.

0:06:25.164,0:06:28.518
In VR today, we're more learning grammar

0:06:28.542,0:06:29.833
than writing language.

0:06:30.880,0:06:34.431
We've made 15 films in the last year[br]at our VR company, Vrse,

0:06:34.455,0:06:36.072
and we've learned a few things.

0:06:36.801,0:06:40.116
We found that we have a unique,[br]direct path into your senses,

0:06:40.140,0:06:42.949
your emotions, even your body.

0:06:43.897,0:06:45.572
So let me show you some things.

0:06:45.596,0:06:46.994
For the purpose of this demo,

0:06:47.018,0:06:50.083
we're going to take every direction[br]that you could possibly look,

0:06:50.107,0:06:52.320
and stretch it into this giant rectangle.

0:06:53.083,0:06:55.033
OK, here we go.

0:06:57.642,0:07:01.923
So, first: camera movement[br]is tricky in VR.

0:07:01.947,0:07:04.049
Done wrong, it can actually make you sick.

0:07:04.930,0:07:09.429
We found if you move the camera[br]at a constant speed in a straight line,

0:07:09.453,0:07:11.670
you can actually get away with it, though.

0:07:11.694,0:07:13.421
The first day in film school,

0:07:13.445,0:07:16.032
they told me you have to learn[br]every single rule

0:07:16.056,0:07:17.814
before you can break one.

0:07:17.838,0:07:20.012
We have not learned every single rule.

0:07:20.036,0:07:21.564
We've barely learned any at all,

0:07:21.588,0:07:23.405
but we're already trying to break them

0:07:23.429,0:07:25.958
to see what kind of creative things[br]we can accomplish.

0:07:25.982,0:07:29.694
In this shot here, where we're moving up[br]off the ground, I added acceleration.

0:07:29.718,0:07:32.551
I did that because I wanted[br]to give you a physical sensation

0:07:32.575,0:07:33.958
of moving up off the ground.

0:07:33.982,0:07:36.475
In VR, I can give that to you.

0:07:37.797,0:07:41.871
(Music)

0:07:43.882,0:07:47.429
Not surprisingly, music matters a lot[br]in this medium as well.

0:07:47.842,0:07:49.716
It guides us how to feel.

0:07:50.354,0:07:53.675
In this project we made[br]with the New York Times's Zach Richter

0:07:53.699,0:07:55.454
and our friend, JR,

0:07:55.478,0:07:57.363
we take you up in a helicopter,

0:07:57.387,0:08:01.325
and even though you're flying[br]2,000 feet above Manhattan,

0:08:01.349,0:08:02.937
you don't feel afraid.

0:08:02.961,0:08:05.869
You feel triumphant for JR's character.

0:08:07.022,0:08:08.501
The music guides you there.

0:08:08.525,0:08:10.525
(Music)

0:08:17.364,0:08:18.971
Contrary to popular belief,

0:08:18.995,0:08:21.661
there is composition in virtual reality,

0:08:21.685,0:08:23.746
but it's completely[br]different than in film,

0:08:23.770,0:08:25.495
where you have a rectangular frame.

0:08:25.519,0:08:28.031
Composition is now[br]where your consciousness exists

0:08:28.055,0:08:30.002
and how the world moves around you.

0:08:30.927,0:08:34.291
In this film, "Waves of Grace,"[br]which was a collaboration between Vrse,

0:08:34.315,0:08:37.224
the United Nations, Gabo Arora,[br]and Imraan Ismail,

0:08:37.248,0:08:40.490
we also see the changing role[br]of the close-up in virtual reality.

0:08:41.139,0:08:45.352
A close-up in VR means[br]you're actually close up to someone.

0:08:45.954,0:08:48.597
It brings that character inside[br]of your personal space,

0:08:48.621,0:08:52.466
a space that we'd usually reserve[br]for the people that we love.

0:08:52.490,0:08:55.660
And you feel an emotional[br]closeness to the character

0:08:55.684,0:08:58.392
because of what you feel[br]to be a physical closeness.

0:09:04.639,0:09:08.978
Directing VR is not like[br]directing for the rectangle.

0:09:09.002,0:09:12.086
It's more of a choreography[br]of the viewer's attention.

0:09:12.864,0:09:15.458
One tool we can use[br]to guide your attention

0:09:15.482,0:09:16.915
is called "spatialized sound."

0:09:16.939,0:09:19.907
I can put a sound anywhere[br]in front of you, to left or right,

0:09:19.931,0:09:21.310
even behind you,

0:09:21.334,0:09:24.330
and when you turn your head,[br]the sound will rotate accordingly.

0:09:24.354,0:09:27.856
So I can use that to direct your attention[br]to where I want you to see.

0:09:28.308,0:09:30.886
Next time you hear someone[br]singing over your shoulder,

0:09:30.910,0:09:32.171
it might be Bono.

0:09:32.195,0:09:33.402
(Laughter)

0:09:38.539,0:09:41.294
VR makes us feel[br]like we are part of something.

0:09:42.459,0:09:45.968
For most of human history,[br]we lived in small family units.

0:09:45.992,0:09:47.503
We started in caves,

0:09:47.527,0:09:50.960
then moved to clans and tribes,[br]then villages and towns,

0:09:50.984,0:09:53.676
and now we're all global citizens.

0:09:54.211,0:09:58.011
But I believe that we are still[br]hardwired to care the most

0:09:58.035,0:10:00.532
about the things that are local to us.

0:10:01.325,0:10:06.283
And VR makes anywhere[br]and anyone feel local.

0:10:06.307,0:10:08.815
That's why it works as an empathy machine.

0:10:08.839,0:10:12.063
Our film "Clouds Over Sidra"[br]takes you to a Syrian refugee camp,

0:10:12.087,0:10:16.638
and instead of watching a story[br]about people over there,

0:10:16.662,0:10:20.485
it's now a story about us here.

0:10:22.386,0:10:23.896
But where do we go from here?

0:10:24.432,0:10:26.889
The tricky thing is that[br]with all previous mediums,

0:10:26.913,0:10:29.283
the format is fixed at its birth.

0:10:30.182,0:10:32.071
Film has been a sequence of rectangles,

0:10:32.095,0:10:34.934
from Muybridge and his horses to now.

0:10:35.377,0:10:36.927
The format has never changed.

0:10:37.654,0:10:41.101
But VR as a format, as a medium,

0:10:42.370,0:10:43.619
isn't complete yet.

0:10:44.767,0:10:47.966
It's not using physical celluloid[br]or paper or TV signals.

0:10:47.990,0:10:51.809
It actually employs what we use[br]to make sense of the world.

0:10:52.642,0:10:56.545
We're using your senses[br]as the paints on the canvas,

0:10:56.569,0:10:57.891
but only two right now.

0:10:59.653,0:11:03.493
Eventually, we can see if we will have[br]all of our human senses employed,

0:11:03.517,0:11:07.712
and we will have agency to live[br]the story in any path we choose.

0:11:08.575,0:11:11.031
And we call it virtual reality right now,

0:11:11.055,0:11:13.849
but what happens when we move[br]past simulated realities?

0:11:15.345,0:11:16.775
What do we call it then?

0:11:17.503,0:11:20.339
What if instead of verbally[br]telling you about a dream,

0:11:20.363,0:11:23.137
I could let you live inside that dream?

0:11:23.860,0:11:27.487
What if instead of just experiencing[br]visiting some reality on Earth,

0:11:27.511,0:11:31.937
you could surf gravitational waves[br]on the edge of a black hole,

0:11:31.961,0:11:34.737
or create galaxies from scratch,

0:11:34.761,0:11:37.845
or communicate with each other[br]not using words,

0:11:37.869,0:11:39.772
but using our raw thoughts?

0:11:41.254,0:11:43.335
That's not a virtual reality anymore.

0:11:44.052,0:11:46.398
And honestly I don't know[br]what that's called.

0:11:46.884,0:11:49.216
But I hope you see where we're going.

0:11:50.629,0:11:54.351
But here I am, intellectualizing[br]a medium I'm saying is experiential.

0:11:54.839,0:11:56.265
So let's experience it.

0:11:56.845,0:12:00.040
In your hands, you hopefully hold[br]a piece of cardboard.

0:12:01.143,0:12:02.776
Let's open the flap.

0:12:02.800,0:12:05.333
Tap on the power button[br]to unlock the phone.

0:12:06.145,0:12:07.769
For the people watching at home,

0:12:07.793,0:12:09.629
we're going to put up a card right now

0:12:09.653,0:12:12.883
to show you how to download[br]this experience on your phone yourself,

0:12:12.907,0:12:16.208
and even get a Google cardboard[br]of your own to try it with.

0:12:17.275,0:12:19.802
We played in cardboard boxes as kids,

0:12:19.826,0:12:24.410
and as adults, I'm hoping we can all find[br]a little bit of that lightning

0:12:24.434,0:12:27.208
by sticking our head in one again.

0:12:29.615,0:12:31.044
You're about to participate

0:12:31.068,0:12:35.520
in the largest collective[br]VR viewing in history.

0:12:36.236,0:12:39.854
And in that classic old-timey[br]style of yesteryear,

0:12:39.878,0:12:42.109
we're all going to watch something

0:12:42.133,0:12:44.130
at the exact same time, together.

0:12:45.019,0:12:46.442
Let's hope it works.

0:12:46.466,0:12:48.651
What's the countdown[br]look like? I can't see.

0:12:52.564,0:12:59.558
Audience: ...15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9,

0:12:59.582,0:13:06.446
8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

0:13:10.327,0:13:14.155
(Birds singing)

0:13:22.508,0:13:25.168
(Train engine)

0:13:33.351,0:13:35.351
Audience: (Shreiks)

0:13:51.285,0:13:52.575
(Video) JR: Let me tell you

0:13:52.599,0:13:55.076
how I shot the cover[br]of the New York Times Magazine,

0:13:55.100,0:13:57.194
"Walking New York."

0:14:06.577,0:14:09.987
I just got strapped on[br]outside the helicopter,

0:14:10.011,0:14:14.255
and I had to be perfectly[br]vertical so I could grab it.

0:14:14.279,0:14:15.897
And when I was perfectly above --

0:14:15.921,0:14:18.658
you know, with the wind,[br]we had to redo it a few times --

0:14:18.682,0:14:20.476
then I kept shooting.

0:14:27.598,0:14:29.296
(Video) Woman's voice: Dear Lord,

0:14:29.900,0:14:31.220
protect us from evil,

0:14:32.654,0:14:33.865
for you are the Lord,

0:14:35.044,0:14:36.231
the light.

0:14:41.824,0:14:44.207
You who gave us life took it away.

0:14:46.191,0:14:47.771
Let your will be done.

0:14:48.941,0:14:53.505
Please bring peace to the many[br]who have lost loved ones.

0:14:53.529,0:14:55.272
Help us to live again.

0:14:58.564,0:15:01.683
(Music)

0:15:17.066,0:15:18.527
(Video) (Children's voices)

0:15:19.504,0:15:24.169
Child's voice: There are more kids[br]in Zaatari than adults right now.

0:15:29.924,0:15:31.953
Sometimes I think

0:15:31.977,0:15:34.411
we are the ones in charge.

0:15:39.410,0:15:40.785
Chris Milk: How was it?

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(Applause)

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That was a cheap way of getting you[br]to do a standing ovation.

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I just made you all stand.[br]I knew you'd applaud at the end.

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(Applause)

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I believe that everyone on Earth[br]needs to experience

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what you just experienced.

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That way we can collectively[br]start to shape this,

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not as a tech platform,

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but as a humanity platform.

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And to that end, in November of last year,

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the New York Times and Vrse made[br]a VR project called "The Displaced."

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It launched with one million[br]Google cardboards

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sent out to every Sunday subscriber[br]with their newspaper.

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But a funny thing happened[br]that Sunday morning.

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A lot of people got them

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that were not the intended recipients[br]on the mailing label.

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And we started seeing this[br]all over Instagram.

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Look familiar?

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Music led me on a path

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of searching for what seemed[br]like the unattainable

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for a very long time.

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Now, millions of kids just had[br]the same formative experience

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in their childhood

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that I had in mine.

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Only I think this one

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surpasses it.

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Let's see

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where this

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leads them.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)