Disney will use Nokia's virtual reality camera to film behind-the-scenes movie extras
The $60,000 Nokia Ozo camera just got its first major vote of confidence.
Imagine if you could be on the set of the next Star Wars film. Imagine if you could watch as Star Wars: Episode VIII director Rian Johnson trains Daisy Ridley to (maybe) become a Jedi.
Star Wars owner Disney is now working on the next best thing. Today, Disney announced a deal to use Nokia's $60,000 (roughly £43,000 or AU$78,000) virtual reality camera to take you behind the scenes of future movies.
The Nokia Ozo is what's known as a 360-degree camera, one of several recent cameras designed specifically with VR filmmaking in mind. By pointing eight different lenses in eight different directions, the Ozo can stitch together a spherical 3D video where you can turn your head to look in any direction. Put a VR headset on, and you can almost feel like you're there -- wherever "there" might be.
In this case, "there" could be the set of a Star Wars, Marvel or new Indiana Jones film. They're all properties owned by Disney.
Technically, we don't know if Disney will choose to use Nokia's Ozo for those specific franchises -- only that Disney will create "special VR content for a range of Disney films" as part of the deal.
One of the first Ozo videos shot by Disney was merely a red carpet experience for Disney's The Jungle Book.
But Nokia Technologies president Ramzi Haidamus insists his camera won't just be a "sideshow" for Disney films. He says Disney is currently testing the camera to create a variety of content, including original work -- and that we should expect to see the making of a "very high-visibility movie" shot with the Nokia Ozo.
Nokia also has an exploratory partnership with 20th Century Fox, but Haidamus says that the Disney deal is the first where a film studio has committed to create content with the Ozo camera and share it with the world.