John Canning (Digital Domain) on the Continuum of Occlusion in AR & VR

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The Guest

John Canning is an Executive Producer for VR, AR, and Interactive at Digital Domain. While their name might not be commonly known, you definitely know Digital Domain’s work - they create visual effects for feature films, including the recent Avengers Infinity War movie. They also create visuals for advertising, games, training, and immersive content, including their own original content.

Prior to Digital Domain, John was the VP of Interactive Experiences for NBCUniversal, creating VR and other digital experiences for The Voice, Million Second Quiz, The Blacklist, and others.

In the past, he’s also spent several years at both Microsoft and Disney.

On the side, he’s the Chairman of the New Media Council at the Producers Guild of America. He’s also an independent producer, cinematographer, and photographer for good causes.

The Conversation

In this conversation, John and I talk about what happened to the virtual humans, including Tupac, who were performing live on stage.

John gives his perspective on how Hollywood producers think about new immersive technologies. He also shares what Digital Domain is doing to push the boundaries, and presents his theory about the “continuum of occlusion”. 

To start, he shares a travel adventure and how he thinks about incorporating 360° video into a project.

I met John in his office for my first face-to-face interview for this podcast series. 

The Request

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