“Walking a virtual mile in someone else’s shoes opens up the possibility of empathy and understanding for other humans, animals, and planet earth.” – Chris Bedyk
WHAT PFI DOES
Perspective Films is an immersive media studio based in Vancouver, Canada focusing on cinematic 2D, XR (VR/AR/360˚) and Location Based Experiences.
Since 2000, Chris Bedyk, a pioneer of immersive storytelling, has sought to change the way in which we create and consume media. Chris garnered acclaim as a sought after cinematographer, working on thousands of leading Hollywood, broadcast and digital media productions for Netflix, Disney, Warner Brothers, Mercedes Benz, Hallmark and Vancouver Canucks.
“Our mission is to place viewers in the middle of a story or experience, elevating their senses and stimulating them to the point that their body reacts physiologically and psychologically, alluding them to believe they were there physically – it’s really fascinating” said Chris. “ We are at the point that stories can become so realistic the brain interrupts these experiences as reality – storing them as a memory – that is empathy at another level”.
Chris understands that immersive technology will change the world helping us reconnect with our true selves by diminishing our fears, helping us overcome our phobias all while demonstrating what our true essence of humanity can be in a time where COVID has set forth a true need for unity, collaboration, and hope.
How It All Started
Since the age of nine, Chris envisioned shaping the future of media and innovation. His first endeavour happened when his family gifted him a VHS camcorder. He set forth, spending every chance he got, creating music videos, documentaries and anything else he could film to bring the world he saw to anyone who would watch. During this same year, two young men in Edmonton lost their lives by falling into open manholes during flash floods. After learning about this tragedy, Chris consulted his father (a real life Mac Guyver who owned a welding and fabrication shop) to help design a prototype for a safe manhole cover that would not topple under pressure during flash floods. His keen eye for the betterment of others created a system that to this day is still used by the City Of Edmonton, helping save countless lives. While seemingly different from his flourey into media, this focusing on a better world, set the foundation for influencing Chris’ development of his many ventures to come.
Conquering Fears
They say that, in order to conquer your fears, you sometimes need to jump head first into them. In 1997, Chris decided to do exactly that. After winning a trip to the world’s largest bungee jump, he faced one of his greatest fears head-on. Prior to the trip, Chris read a life altering book by Tony Robbins. Through it, he discovered that he held the key to conquering his own fears by stepping into uncomfortable territory and using it as a vehicle to grow. On the day of the big leap, he threw himself off the ledge, freefalling 102m (340 feet) to the river below. In the coming years, he used the same exercise to overcome his lifelong fear of public speaking.
These personal accomplishments led Chris to the foundation of Perspective Films – a company that could use immersive, engaging, and impactful media and experiences to help audiences conquer their greatest fears. His solution, VR/360˚ filmmaking.
The Inventor at Heart
In 2012, Chris developed a moving timelapse robot that encompassed the true essence of an amusement park at night. He stitched together 7,000 still photos that created the mesmerizing experience “Multi-Lapse” (vimeo.com/52669738). In 2014, this caught the eye of Oculus and Chris was invited to the first ever Oculus Connect Conference where he partook in his first Virtual Reality experience. He was instantly teleported to a land where dinosaurs, aliens, and futuristic robocops surrounded him as if he was there physically. Left speechless, this moment changed his life forever. He now understood the power of engaging and impactful immersive storytelling.
In 2013, the world was introduced to the Oculus DK1, the first consumer ready VR headset. This evolutionary entrance left aspiring VR futurists scrambling to find professional grade 360˚ cameras to meet the growing demand for desperately needed content. With limited options, Chris decided to develop his own VR camera array, grouping seven Gopro cameras together to capture live action, cinematic 360˚ ready content for the new Oculus headset. In 2016, Chris partnered with the Vancouver Canucks to allow fans the ability to experience first hand what it is like to be a Canuck, creating one of the world’s first VR/360˚ sporting experiences. Beyond the Canucks, Chris also collaborated with the BC Lions in 2018 (in partnership with Quest Upon and Radical I/O) to create the industry’s first VR/AR/360˚ sports smartphone app – bringing VR directly to fans.
Chris’s ambitions for immersive filmmaking stretched far beyond the rink. In 2016, his desire to bring the world’s natural and man-made wonders to anyone, wherever they are, caught the eye of international investors in Asia. He was contracted to bring his true vision to fruition. With that, VR Wonders Of The World was born (vrwondersoftheworld.com). This award winning production featured the Northern Lights and Grand Canyon. To capture the content, Chris developed an ultra high resolution time lapse camera array, using five 50 megapixel SLR cameras. To increase the viewers immersion with movement, he also built a custom portable track and motion control system.
In 2018, Chris was also contracted to handle principal photography and post production on a VR/360˚promotion for the Facebook Watch series Sacred Lies and the popular show Riverdale. Both of these projects utilized Chris’s custom high resolution low light cameras and production systems. During this same year, Chris built a wearable wireless live streaming 360˚ camera for Huawei and Telus that was featured at the 2018 International 5G Conference in Vancouver.
What Makes Perspective Unique?
Chris’s leadership, industry partnerships and pioneering expertise enables Perspective Films to tackle complex, revolutionary and leading edge projects that propelled their clients forward on their entrance to exploratory and experiential formats of storytelling. Combined with their vast, multi decade long experience with traditional cinematic formats in motion picture and digital media, Perspective Films is a propelling force, combining traditional and new age formats of media creation and distribution.
A journey that allows viewers to be truly immersed in a story, making them feel as if they are a part of the narrative, is a revolutionary intersection of media. It has the ability to take narrative storytelling to unprecedented heights. Chris’s approach evokes emotion through newage formats that extend boundaries most have yet to conceive. Perspective Films is testament that anything imaginable can be brought to fruition.
The question is, are you ready to embark on a journey to the future?
Collaboration is Key for the Future for Perspective Films
Perspective Films future is bright, with a direct focus on using their immersive filmmaking technologies to help tackle social impact projects. Through a newfound partnership with emergeStudios (a pioneering Vancouver based social impact media company) they have teamed up to create VR films that help grant the wishes of vulnerable children using immersive media formats, starting with an emergeStudios project in partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Through this partnership, Chris and Dave Walsh (emergeStudios, Founder) are also developing interactive, location based experiences under their new brand, Wunders, with an objective of bringing the world’s cultural and natural wonders to consumers, wherever they are in the years to come.
Chris is set to collaborate with Innovation Canada to develop solutions that help companies navigate through COVID 19. Contact Perspective today to bring your dreams to reality!
