Virtual reality is the present and the future, and when a technology like this comes up with a combination of real-life events, it becomes all the more interesting. Earlier this year, Sundance saw the premiere of Zero Days VR created by Brooklyn-based start-up, Scatter, which is now being made available at the Oculus store. The VR is adapted from a documentary by Alex Gibney of the same name. Yasmin Elayat has directed the VR, which narrates the story of US and Israel developing computer virus Stuxnet, which in 2010 enabled the destruction of an Iranian Nuclear enrichment facility located at Natanz.
The story is told from two perspectives in the VR, first, the virus Stuxnet's and second, the computer scientists who are represented here ban an NSA informant in a holographic form. The VR uses high-end technology with volumetric (holographic) characters coupled with a three-dimensional visualization of the Stuxnet virus. Depthkit has developed this system of capturing people in 3D through the volumetric method where the VR creators can capture any person from various angles to create a realistic 3D photo of them. In this VR experience, the technique has been used on various characters from the original documentary to render an actress portraying a female scientist.
While this experience tells how the virus affected the targeted industrial systems, the makers of the VR experience warn how the same technology of virus can be used against the countries which made it. Yasmin Elayat, the director of the VR experience said, "We set out to answer Gibney's question: How can you make a documentary where the lead character is code? And by using custom tools we've been able to recreate the Stuxnet narrative in a new way, visualizing the invisible world of cyberwar with techniques native to the VR medium."
The Zero Days VR which is produced in association with Oculus Story Studios will be available for free at the Oculus Store for Samsung GearVR and the Oculus Rift for the next month. The next phase would see the expansion of the VR experience to other VR platforms after six months exclusive availability at the Oculus Store.
Watch the trailer here:
