Taking porn to the next level: Virtual reality software allows viewer to feel ‘like they’re part of the action’

Just ask Anna Lee: Woody Allen’s Orgasmatron, his then-futuristic vision of self-initiated sex from the 1973 movie Sleeper, has finally become a reality. Virtual reality, that is.

Lee, president of Holofilm Productions of Vancouver, Canada, stood on the exhibition floor of the 2016 Adult Entertainment Expo in Las Vegas. She held in her hand a US$99 viewfinder that adds to new filming techniques will revolutionise the way consumers watch pornography, she says.

The white Samsung Gear VR goggles, which resemble a prop from a Star Wars film set, is the next baby step to what Lee and others hope will one day become a pure virtual reality experience.

With the glasses on, paired with the firm’s specially filmed Holo Girls Virtual Reality hardware, viewers may feel like they’re actually on the set. They can turn their head 180 degrees to see action not only in the centre, but on the left and right as well.

“We’re taking porn to the next level to better immerse the viewer in the experience,” she said. “No longer will scenes be flat and two-dimensional. Viewers can now feel like they’re part of the action.”

This year’s annual adult entertainment convention deals with a range of issues facing the industry – protecting porn actress from abuse on the set, feminist erotica and better ways to battle online piracy.

But an industry that has long prided itself as being on the cutting edge of technology is leveraging its resources to go beyond 3D and mobile viewing to the feeling of being there.

“Porn consumption as come a long way from 40 years ago when you had to watch films in some theatre with 400 other people, to watching VHS [videos] in your dorm room,” said Farrell Hirsch, who managed a display for Vivid Radio, which advertises porn stars on the airwaves around the clock.