I don't like submarines. The idea of being trapped hundreds of feet underwater in a narrow, creaking death trap? No thanks. I already knew that before a screening Submergedthe first scripted short film shot in Apple Immersive Video for Vision Pro. Now that I've seen it, I'm threefold sure.
Screenplay and direction: Oscar winner Edward Berger, Submerged takes place in a World War II submarine that comes under attack. It follows the crew as they try to escape a sinking submarine. I, on the other hand, was sitting comfortably on a couch in Apple's demo room in Manhattan in 2024. There were no other theatergoers because I wanted to strap the theater to my face. It was a bit strange. At least until the movie started. Then I was also in a submarine from the Second World War.
It's a strange thing watching an immersive film in the Vision Pro. On the one hand, it's hard to forget that you're wearing a headset. But unlike a normal film, I have a ghostly agency within the narrative. The action may take place with the main characters, but I am not obligated to watch it. Instead, you can focus on the extras in the background. I can – and have – occasionally turned my head to stare at the rivets in the submarine's metal walls or the condensation beads in a torpedo tube (or, roughly speaking, at a cockroach scurrying across the floor). Sometimes I turned around to see if that was the case Submerged The world had 360 degrees like the real one. Spoiler: That's not the case. This fictional world spans 180 degrees and once you reach the border it goes black.
The experience feels like a cross between playing video games and watching Don't sleep anymorean immersive version of Macbeth where the audience strolls through a spooky hotel as the play unfolds around them. The scenes move more slowly, as if you are being asked to look at the surroundings. At the same time, you are not completely free to explore. There's still a story Berger is trying to tell – you're just along for the ride.
It's all a natural part of adapting traditional filmmaking to a more immersive 180-degree field of view. “This frame is very large and you have to fill it with things that are happening, things that might be of interest to the audience,” says Berger. “Every extra, every device, every bursting pipe or element in the frame counts. You can’t really cheat.”
This wide field of vision comes with its own obstacles. Microphones and lighting must be built into the scenery. Berger says he had to storyboard everything, create a short animated film based on that, and then watch it in the Vision Pro to get a feel for how the camera would move. Berger also wore the headset when filming began to figure out what the shots would look like.
The result is impressive. As the water poured into this fictional submarine, I could taste the faint memory of salt water on my tongue. When characters walked through narrow submarine corridors, I felt claustrophobic. During a scene in which sailors pushed a torpedo into its launch tube, I instinctively held out my hands. For a split second I thought they were going to load it straight into my chest.
“My main concern is to make you feel what the main character is feeling and to let them experience what they're doing, so to speak,” says Berger. On this front Submerged is incredibly successful. When you remember you're wearing a headset, the rest of the world rushes back in.
When you watch the film, you realize that no one else is experiencing something like this with you. There is no one who gasps for air in harrowing moments. There's no one you can look into the eyes as if to say, “Wow, did you see that too?” If you were to share this, all you would see is the ghostly persona of a friend who isn't really there. And then you would miss the whole immersive aspect. If you think about it like that, Submerged is something you have to experience alone.
When you watch the film, you realize that no one else is experiencing something like this with you
Owning (or renting) a Vision Pro is also the only way to see Submerged. This is inherently lonely. The only people I could really talk to about this experience were Apple employees and Berger himself. Now that the film is available, I'll have to wait for the two people I know in real life to come forward with a vision Pro plan time in your schedule to watch it. When I try to explain it to my spouse, he remains unmoved.
Apparently Apple wants these immersive films to serve as a selling point for the Vision Pro. Come spend $3,500 and see the magic for yourself. There's a logic to that. Submerged is truly a technologically impressive proof-of-concept for high-quality immersive content. It's just difficult to share this experience. I can't say that with a straight face The is the ultimate reason why anyone should buy one of these things, especially since it was only about a 17-minute movie. That's long enough to keep things feeling snappy and fresh. I'm not sure how well the immersive aspect would hold up to a two hour feature film.
“Not every film is shot with these headsets. It's not necessary. “That would be a waste of resources and time,” admits Berger. Instead, he sees the Vision Pro as another tool in his belt. “Not every film is suitable for every medium. But when I have the right story, I think, 'I'm excited to tell that and push the medium forward.'”
This is, so to speak, the quagmire in which all mixed reality technology lies may be magical. If you try it, you'll see why some people are inspired and excited. And when you inevitably take the headsets off, it's hard to explain to anyone why the world inside the headset is better than the world outside. “Moving boundaries” isn’t a particularly compelling reason. Watch out Submerged is also like that. Despite all the artistic and technological skill that went into making this film, I never needed the Vision Pro to imagine how terrifying a sinking submarine could be. It's just not necessary to immerse yourself in a good story.