Intel Creates VR Experience to Promote the Upcoming Film Dunkirk by Christopher Nolan

 

This feature film has been written and directed by Christopher Nolan, the man behind some amazing masterpieces like Inception and Interstellar. 

 

The VR experience has been made available for the audiences and can be downloaded via Vive Video on Viveport and other VR platforms by visiting the movie’s VR website. 

 

The Dunkirk VRE allows viewers to get engaged with the film’s three perspectives viz. land, water, and air. While the custom content is only available in high-resolution 360-degree video, viewers can also enjoy an epic visual narration of the pivotal World War II Battle of Dunkirk ahead of the movie’s release on July 21. 

 

 

Usually, in the post-production process of such VRE experiences, workflows are optimised for standard HD and 4K media. However, for this film’s VRE, the production teams have worked at nearly 40 times that resolution.

 

The computing demands of this process require every workstation, network card, blade server, video card, and storage array to perform at optimal efficiency. If the system response is slow or if there is a malfunction, it leads to wastage of time and an increase in the cost. So the quality of hardware and software plays a major role in ensuring the success of the platform.

 

Coming to the technical details, the VR production firm Practical Magic has harnessed Dell M1000E blade servers built with Intel Xeon processors to create low-time, low-latency stitching of the high-resolution media. The Intel Xeon cores within the blade servers conducted the threaded rendering while the single thread/core rendering was handled by a separate render farm on Intel® Core™ i7 6700K CPUs.

 

Moving on, the visual effects artists utilized Intel 10GbE networking to increase the speed of the SAN, thereby serving 10GbE to every workstation. The Intel® architecture-based technologies further enhanced compositing and stitching workflows by providing real-time access to high-resolution media throughout the entire post-production process. Also, Intel’s security capabilities protect premium content on digital devices, networks, and servers without impeding the user experience.

 

Pushing the boundaries of virtual reality technology, the production demands behind the Dunkirk VRE required best-in-class equipment, software, and techniques to satisfy the creative requirements and timelines of one of Hollywood’s most talented filmmakers. Moreover, with this venture, Intel continues to enable creative innovators to bring new immersive experiences to audiences around the world.

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