High Five, the first family film in virtual reality. It's already that common.

Even the prestigious Cannes Film Festival has a virtual reality production in its official selection this year: Carne y Arena from Revenant-director Iñárritu. So now the VR phenomenon really belongs.

That this new medium is already becoming quite common can also be seen in the Dutch VR film High Five. This is on 17 April at the Amsterdam VR Cinema premiered. Producer Jip Samhoud calls this joyous spectacle the first VR family film.

While it is actually still far from commonplace. Especially a feature film in VR still presents many headaches, partly because the viewer is literally in the middle of the action. At 20 minutes High Five already one of the longer VR films. How the makers of High Five and two other Dutch productions - Ashes to Ashes and The Night Watch - tackled it I already noted in a previous article.

Frank Lammers

Compared to many artistic experiments in this sector, it is High Five remarkably carefree. A 20-minute comedy that targets a wide audience. With action, slapstick, a bit of spectacle. Frank Lammers (also directing) and Stefan de Walle play two proverbially stupid crooks. They have the nefarious plan to steal the High Five machine from the very young but genius inventor Frederique (Isa Lammers). Daan Schuurmans and Bracha van Doesburg are her stone-faced parents who never pay attention to her. So the High Five machine has to compliment her.

Gymnastics for viewers

Shot in Vorden Castle, this adventure has you tumbling from one unusually decorated room into another. That means lots of gymnastics for the viewer. In the chase, Frederique and the rascals run past you left and right. Suddenly, catapults are also fired. At the same time, you would love to admire all those extraordinary interiors of the castle.

In a traditional film, it would undoubtedly have managed to be edited more sharply and excitingly.

Whether that is a useful combination is debatable. In any case, it regularly happened to me that I turned back just too late. But a static scene in which you can quietly look from one actor to another, as in the beginning, is soon too dull again. In a traditional film, it would undoubtedly have succeeded in editing more sharply and excitingly. Surely VR has to rely more on the overall experience. Also High Five shows that it is all still fairly unexplored territory.

High Five can be seen in the VR Cinema in Amsterdam.