Google Glass | Image: Google
Today (July 29), Google announced that it’s enlisting students from five film schools to explore how Google Glass—its wearable computer that resembles a pair of glasses—can be used to produce film.
The experimental initiative dubbed Glass Creative Collective will allow select students from CalArts, The American Film Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, UCLA and USC to use the new technology for production, documentary filmmaking, character development and as-yet-undiscovered applications.
Each school will be loaned three sets Google Glasses for the fall semester. As the Associated Press reported, students are encouraged to use Glass to tell stories incorporating the first-person point of view, as a starting point.
[O]ne model that students might follow is one explored in the film, Timecode, by director Mike Figgis, which uses four cameras to capture four different people simultaneously. Students will also be encouraged to try to use Glass’s data overlays as a way of revealing elements of a story.
The $1,500 headset is already being used by 10,000 so-called “explorers,” who range from software developers to social media-friendly celebrities. The device allows users to take pictures, shoot video in 720p high-definition quality, search the web, compose email and check schedules by issuing voice or touch commands.
The Google Glass team says it plans to share an update of how students are progressing sometime after school resumes in the fall.
Glass is expected to be available for consumers by spring, priced closer to the average smartphone ($300-$500). Watch CNET’s 5 Best Uses for Google Glass.
The Google collaboration further spurs CalArts’ momentum in combining the arts with technology, such as free online courses via Coursera and a Digital Arts minor, which will both begin this fall.