Chris Milk is getting more money.
Who’s Chris Milk you ask? The quick answer is that he’s one of the guys in Hollywood most ahead of the curve when it comes to virtual reality. A commercial and music video director, Milk’s foray into VR began with the experimental video project for singer-songwriter Beck’s Sound and Vision and has ventured out from there, subsequently producing virtual reality experiences like The Wilderness Downtown for Arcade Fire as well as immersive experiences for big time digital artists and brands.
Okay, so this guy Milk has had a nice Hollywood career, you say. Why should you care that some rich Hollywood director has gotten even more money? Well, Milk, in collaboration with digital media artist Aaron Koblin, formerly the head of Google’s Data Arts team to form Within, a virtual reality content and technology company set up in Los Angeles.
Since its birth in 2014, Within has produced immersive content for brands as diverse as some of its early investors such as Vice and 21st Century Fox, as well as U2, The New York Times, the United Nations and the film company Annapurna Pictures, where its trying to further push the boundaries of immersive filmed entertainment. On top of all this, Within’s highly lauded VR app is available on iOS and Android operating systems, works with all VR headsets and hosts high quality VR content for free.
So yeah, Milk is an important name as virtual reality branches into Hollywood and traditional filmmakers and media companies begin to explore just how far into VR they can get. He and Within are so important that when news hits that they have raised an additional $40 million dollars atop the original $12.56 million raised last year, you have to take notice.
Not only are Milk and Koblin smart dudes, they combine creative aplomb with access to some of the hottest Hollywood has to offer, making it seem likely that as they continue to push forward with their own virtual reality content that it will be of the kind of high quality, high profile variety; the kind of cool and important stuff that VR users will be clamouring for.
And for the record, it’s worth hoping that this happens. VR needs creators like Milk and Koblin and now that they have now even deeper pockets to use as they explore and discover new immersive content can only benefit the end user. Us.
You can bet we are going to be keeping an eye on Within in the near future. We get the feeling that they’re going to be leading this revolution for a long time.