The future of TV is a VR headset

(Heads-up: This article contains spoilers.)

Some movies are just made to be uncomfortable, but they’re limited in how uncomfortable they can be not by the director’s creative choices or the actors’ talent, but by the format they’re produced in. When films were black and white with no audio, it was quite difficult to get the audience into the storyline. We like to think now that those shows back then were revolutionary and that people were just happy to have television in the first place — and they were — but humans will be humans, and live-action plays were still the best source of immersive entertainment. Then, audio was added, and color television followed. Technology progressed.

Now, we’re in an era where anyone can go out and buy a color, high-dynamic range screen for their home. They get bright, they’ve got great surround sound, blacks are dark and inky, and colors are vibrant — they’re the pinnacle of technological innovation. Now, you can make someone much more uncomfortable onscreen than you can at a live-action play because televisions and movie screens are so advanced. It’s so much easier to tell stories in 2024. But that’s just considering the television.

Enter Apple Vision Pro’s “Immersive” video, a 180-degree viewing mode that pipes in 3D, stereoscopic images just centimeters away from the retinas, all in stunning high resolution. Pixels are invisible in Apple Vision Pro; what’s onscreen is practically indiscernible from real life. This realism creates an amount of discomfort filmmakers have been trying to replicate with screens for decades — an amount previously only available in live-action plays. I bring up this topic of “discomfort” not negatively but rather because the best way to tell a gut-wrenching story is by appealing directly to a person’s natural instincts. We’re humans: When we’re frightened, we flinch; when we’re scared, we run; when the lights are too bright, we squint. This is how to tell stories.

No matter how hard a director tries, the best they’re going to get out of an audience member watching television is a flinch after a sudden movement. With Apple Vision Pro, that same audience member is practically in the scene. It’s the best way to get a reaction out of the audience and emotionally resonate with them. When someone is actively somewhere, they’re prone to remembering and recalling that scene much more than if they just watched it from afar. The best way to entrench someone in a story is by putting them in it. This has been the age-old task of filmmaking technology for the last few decades: putting people as close to the stories they love as technologically possible. Apple Vision Pro is the final frontier in that journey.

“Submerged” is a story set in a U.S. Navy submarine in the midst of World War II. It culminates in something happening to the ship and water gushing in, with crew members performing an emergency evacuation. The story isn’t what matters here; it’s how it feels that does. As the water plunges in, two men are eating in the ship’s galley — the scene is dark and quiet, and only the dialogue between the characters is audible. Suddenly and shockingly, the screen violently and turbulently trembles as the submarine begins to sink — you wince. Red alert sirens are positioned throughout the galley, and as they illuminate, their brightness is eye-searing. The entire story up until this point is shot in near darkness, letting the pupils dilate — but suddenly, they are forced to constrict to adapt to the change in lighting. It’s such a minor detail, but it’s only possible on Apple Vision Pro. In a typical viewing environment, the eyes would acclimatize to the external surroundings, not what is happening on TV. That isn’t the case with Apple Vision Pro.

As the story progresses, the camera pans forward quickly, following the film’s protagonist from behind. For a second, it feels like a video game, shuffling through the short, narrow, and dingy hallways of the 1940s-era submarine. It really does feel like you’re there and experiencing something that you otherwise never would have. The emotion portrayed by the actors feels tangible and palpable — there’s something in the air that just can’t be adequately expressed on television but nevertheless is perfectly conveyed with Apple Vision Pro. As the water fills up in this cylindrical space of sorts, the camera is positioned right at the surface of the water, as if the audience member is about to drown. It’s peak discomfort, yet positions the viewer right where they should be: in a state of panic. That story resonates with people; the climax is exquisite and compelling.

As I took off my Apple Vision Pro after the experience, I thought to myself how this would be the future of television. Everyone made it out fine, yet I felt like I was actually in the submarine. I was entrenched not only in the story but the lives of the characters like I had met them there. I kept thinking about the man and his baby sister. I kept thinking about how World War II changed so many people’s lives for the worse. That story put me, for just about 20 minutes, right in the middle of the 20th century. Maybe this is just me, but I haven’t watched a short film that resonated with me so much. I don’t even think it was a particularly compelling storyline in hindsight, yet the way it was produced had an undeniable emotional impact. The future of television is beyond the television — it’s in a virtual reality headset.