Ever since the first wave of people managed to actually get hands-on with the Vision Pro and verify that it's a pretty magical bit of hardware, Apple's been having a hard time selling its headset. The biggest issues for most people, of course, is that sky-high price.
Still, there's also been a question mark over just what you can actually do in the headset, especially from a media point of view, since most video viewing is very cool but still basically a VR theatre mode. Now, though, Apple has released its first short film made from the ground up for viewing in Vision Pro - Submerged.
The short is written and directed by Edward Berger, best known for his Oscar-winning All Quiet on the Western Front, which was made with Netflix. It, too, takes a look at war, this time putting viewers right in the thick of it inside a World War II-era submarine that's under attack.
Expect water pouring in, electrical fires, general panic and close-quarters, but with the obvious difference in perspective making it all way more immediate. The movie is available now for free to anyone with a Vision Pro, making it one of the most exclusive short films out there.
Apple is clearly pretty proud of the movie, and has released some shots showing off how it was made, with one huge water-tank set that let it get authentic rushes of water through hatches and cracks. These images also show the custom cameras used to film in the immersive format.
Because the viewer will have a drastically wider field of view than they would watching a traditional movie, this also meant that actors who would normally be way out of shot apparently had to be completely scripted and directed, making the shoot even more complicated.
Berger himself has gushed about the process, saying: "Apple Vision Pro inspired me to tell a story in a way that just wasn’t possible before, and in the process, it changed the way my team and I think about creating a story. This immersive technology pioneered by Apple is going to change the future of film-making."
This is just the first in a run of immersive content that Apple's releasing, as it's explained in a newsroom post, and more is on the way. This will include Elevated, a travel series about high places, Concert For One, presenting intimate performances by music stars, and Adventure, which will showcase extreme human endeavours.
