Cornell Bowers College of Computing and Information Science
photo of Don Greenberg

Story

Virtual Reality: Changing the Face of Storytelling

In April, CIS and the Cornell Club of LA hosted a sold out alumni event in Beverly Hills with over 150 alumni. The alums gathered for a talk featuring Don Greenberg, the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Computer Graphics, and Lincoln Wallen, DreamWorks CTO.  Moderated by CIS Dean Greg Morrisett, perspectives were shared on how virtual reality is impacting the entertainment industry and influencing new methods of storytelling. The dominant digital companies today (Google, Microsoft, Facebook) have invested very large sums of money into companies in this space (Oculus, Valve, MagicLeap, etc.). At the same time, the revenue streams from most entertainment companies is changing. As theater box office revenues and attendance starts to decrease, other methods of story-telling in the VR realm are accelerating.