Time Magazine Features Mark Bolas and his Virtual Reality Research

Time highlighted research by Mark Bolas of the USC Institute for Creative Technologies on the potential impact of virtual reality. “I believe we’re in the virtual world now more than the real world already. It’s just that our interface sucks,” Bolas said.
The story notes that Bolas, who is also a professor in the Interactive Media Division at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, open-sourced the FOV2GO, which allowed thousands of people to create $5 homemade virtual reality headsets. More recently he’s been building virtual reality worlds with stopmotion Claymation, trying to get at
the interactive, worldbending experiences VR can offer. Because, unlike movies, virtual reality can make you feel dumb or successful by reacting to you.
“Presence has to go both ways. The world has to acknowledge that you’re in it,” he said. “This is what I have film students for. To figure out what I do with this.”