By: Brittany Nicole La Hue

The Digital Hollywood conference comes to town every spring and fall, and its four-day-long lineup plays host to the biggest names in virtual reality, augmented reality, production and new tech. This session, executives from VR studios Reel FX, Specular Theory and VR Playhouse spoke on panels, imparting their knowledge on fellow content creators, aspiring content creators, investors and tech nerds alike. Read below for a highlight of some of their key insights.

VR Playhouse co-founder and CEO Christina Heller discussed the tough issue of diversity in VR. As tech founders and creators greatly skew male, the lack of women in tech and VR is becoming evident in the types of content that is created. However, the first step, Heller points out, is defining what constitutes gender content in the first place. “It’s a weird thing to be like, what’s content made for girls and what’s content made for boys?” she says. “I think we’re moving as a generation into a society where identity and gender is more fluid. I get nervous saying that fashion is for girls, because guys like fashion too.”

Once the problem is clearly defined, the fact still remains that investors in VR are typically male. Even if you have a great idea for a gender-neutral or heterosexual-female geared experience, how will you get the money to fund it?

“If you want to get more diverse content into the ecosystem, you just have to suck it up and figure out how to make it, whether or not the industry or brand dollars are there,” advises Heller. “Although we can only do a certain number of passion projects each quarter, because we have to keep the lights on and the staff employed, it remains that the only way to make content we want to see right now is just to make it, at all costs.”

Content was also a prominent topic in Specular Theory CMO Ryan Pulliam’s panel “Entertainment, Technology and Advertising – A Redefinition of the Industry.” Pulliam stated her belief that the content needs to come first, and the technology second. “VR is the art of storytelling,” she says. “I think if you have a great story, whether it’s low-budget or high-budget, it doesn’t matter – just focus on that.”

Pulliam used Specular Theory’s first “Perspective” VR film, directed by Morris May and Rose Troche, as an example of the fact that technology evolves, but content remains key. “Our first piece was shot in 220 and was super-pixelated,” Pulliam says. “By the time we went out to show it at Sundance, Morris and I were like, oh no, we can’t show this, because by then the technology had changed so much. But we had a four-hour line and not one person said a single thing about the pixels. The story is what resonated with viewers.”

Santa Monica/Dallas-based VR and animation studio Reel FX had a prominent showing at Digital Hollywood, with Kevin Althans speaking on two panels and new General Manager of VR Steve Nix speaking about how his background in gaming allows him to take Reel FX’s VR experiences to the next level.

“I spent 16 years in gaming before I joined Reel FX, and we used to put together really ugly prototypes of games before adding in the beautiful characters and the musical score, just to make sure that the game itself was engaging and fun,” Nix said. And that’s the key to creating VR experiences today without breaking the bank, the General Manager believes, who is currently hiring game developers to collaborate with the film studio side of Reel FX.

“You need to build your early prototypes and figure out what the mechanics are,” says Nix. “If the user is moving, how quickly are they moving? Is it making people sick? Are people missing the most important scenes? Do they see visual cues? Are they confused about anything? Bring people in and buy them pizza and put them in the experience. You need to do this as early on in the production process as possible.”

Reel FX director Kevin Althans emphasized that the only way to create virtual reality right now is by trial and error. “This industry is so painfully new that all we’re doing is making mistakes,” says Althans. “We’re making decisions on the fly. But, this realism and cynicism is healthy, because it will take us into the next chapter in VR.”

What VR-related questions would you have asked the Digital Hollywood panelists? Let us know in the comments!