Virtual reality:
NBA Finals film is first sports documentary to be produced in the format.
The technology-loving Bay Area is swooning over virtual reality. But Golden State Warriors fans will find the latest VR offering rather traumatic.
“Follow My Lead: The Story of the 2016 NBA Finals” is the first sports documentary to be produced in virtual reality. The NBA and Oculus, the Facebook-owned VR company, released the 25-minute video Wednesday.
The documentary, narrated by actor Michael B. Jordan (who played Oscar Grant in 2013’s “Fruitvale Station” and starred in “Creed”), takes viewers behind the scenes during the Finals, in which — as Golden State fans remember all too well — the heavily favored Warriors lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers in seven games.
The video, produced by a New York and Los Angeles studio named Mssng Peces, centers on the teams’ leaders, Stephen Curry and LeBron James. But unlike traditional sports documentaries, viewers aren’t just observers.
Directors Gabe Spitzer and Ray Tintori placed VR cameras in spots that make viewers feel part of the action. And the video, which is longer than usual for VR, also gives viewers more time to mentally suspend reality and start to believe they are actually present in the moments — on the floor for pregame ceremonies, sitting in courtside seats during games, standing in the middle of practices and covering postgame news conferences.
In one poignant scene before Game 7 at Oakland’s
Oracle Arena, viewers experience standing in a players-only huddle as James urges his Cavalier teammates to go out on the court and give it all they have.
At times, the action feels so real that it seems Draymond Green is about to step on your foot. Then again, Warriors fans will want to close their eyes as they stand with the crowds watching the Cavs’ championship parade in Cleveland.
The directors used quicker cuts on scenes than used in most other VR documentaries, which let viewers linger for 10 or more seconds to soak in the scene. “Follow” tried to blend traditional filmmaking, which attempts to direct viewers’ attention to a key moment or element, and VR, which allows viewers time to look at the entire 360-degree area.
There are some slightly nauseating moments when the camera is moving, but those don’t last too long because of the quick scene transitions.
“This was an amazing opportunity to tell a propulsive, multiprotagonist story in VR about characters that people are passionately invested in, and to film those characters in the most climactic moments of their lives,” Tintori said in a press release.
Right now, the video is available in virtual reality only for owners of Samsung’s Gear VR headset, which also requires newer model Samsung mobile phones, and it will be available sometime in the future to owners of the Oculus Rift headset, an Oculus spokesman said.
That shuts out owners of rivals, including HTC Vive, Google Cardboard and the upcoming PlayStation VR. The NBA has posted a trailer, which can be viewed in 360-degree video using a computer, on its Facebook page.
Or, if you’re a Golden State fan still in mourning, just go watch more cat videos on YouTube.