Category: Deluxe VR

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Here Be Dragons and Samsung Bring Some Holiday Spirit with The Night Before

Christmas is almost upon us and HERE BE DRAGONS, a specialist virtual reality (VR) production studio (formerly Vrse.works), has created a new immersive experience for Samsung called The Night Before in partnership with Wieden + Kennedy Portland and Deluxe VR.

Themed around the holidays, The Night Before transports viewers to the North Pole aboard Santa’s sleigh, where he then journey’s around the globe spreading Christmas joy.

The Night Before_1

You can watch the 360-degree video through Samsung VR on a standard monitor or via the app on Gear VR. Or if you’re in the area head down to one of the following three locations, either The Grove in Los Angeles, Herald Square in New York or Samsung 837 in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District.

“The Night Before feels like a defining moment in cinematic and narrative storytelling for virtual reality, and we’re very proud of how Nima Nourizadeh and team – through Wieden + Kennedy Portland’s charming story – captured the magic and spirit of Christmas,” said Patrick Milling-Smith, partner & president of HERE BE DRAGONS. “We hope that intertwining the wonderment of VR with our version of Santa’s busy night creates a timeless experience for all ages to enjoy.”

”Visual quality is incredibly important for immersion which is why we captured the footage using our custom 8K Red Helium VR Rig,” said Fredrik Montan Frizell, executive producer and chief operating officer of HERE BE DRAGONS. “The superior capture capabilities of this setup – in conjunction with the ability of Samsung Gear VR to support cube maps and h.265 codec – sets this 4D experience apart from anything else seen before.”

Check out the full list of times and dates for The Night Before, and for further HERE BE DRAGONS coverage keep reading VRFocus.

The Night Before hours of operation:

Herald Square, New York City

Friday, December 9 – Friday, December 23                  9AM -9PM

Saturday, December 24                                                      9AM -6PM

Sunday, December 25                                                         CLOSED

Monday, December 26 – Friday, December 30             9AM – 9PM

Saturday, December 31                                                       9AM -6PM

 

Samsung 837, New York City

Monday – Friday                                                                  11am – 9pm

Saturday                                                                                 10am – 10pm

Sunday                                                                                    10am – 8pm

Sunday, December 25                                                          CLOSED

 

The Grove, Los Angeles, CA

Friday, December 9                                                            10AM-11PM

Saturday, December 10                                                     9AM -11PM

Sunday, December 11                                                        9AM -10PM

Monday, December 12 – Friday, December 23            9AM -11PM

Saturday, December 24                                                    9AM -6PM

Sunday, December 25                                                      CLOSED

Monday, December 26 -Thursday, December 29      10AM -9PM

Friday, December 30                                                       9AM -10PM

Saturday, December 31                                                   10AM -6PM

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TIME’s LIFE VR Unveils Remembering Pearl Harbor

Yesterday, December 7th, marked the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor. One of the most notorious events, not only of World War II, but of the entire theatre of war. As Japanese forces, in an attempt to demoralise America and keep it out of the conflict, launched a surprise attack on the Hawaiian naval base. Leading to the deaths of 2,335 serviceman and 68 civilians whilst a combined total of 1,178 were also wounded.

Life VR Logo

In memory of this anniversary TIME Inc.’s virtual reality (VR) platform LIFE VR, which debuted back in September, has launched a new room-scale experience charting the events of a defining moment in American history. An experience in three acts, developed in partnership with AMD, HTC Vive and produced by Deluxe VR. Users take on the perspective of Pearl Harbor veteran Jim Downing – at the time a sailor on board the USS West Virginia. Downing recalls the events of the attack as you travel through the day, examining virtual recreations of artifacts and taking in archive photo and video.

“VR has an incredible power not only to entertain, but to teach. We created this experience to give even the biggest history buffs an experience of this moment that might change the way they understand it.” Explained Mia Tramz, Managing Editor of LIFE VR and TIME’s Senior Multimedia Editor. “This is the first of what we hope will be many historical and educational VR projects that LIFE VR undertakes to solidify certain pivotal moments that have shaped where we are today.”

Remembering Pearl Harbor was shown at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum and to members of the U.S. Congress at Capitol Hill yesterday during 75th anniversary events. It will continue to be shown for the rest of the week as part of a a special exhibition at Washington’s Newseum.

VRFocus will be bringing you more news and updates on the developing role of VR and 360 degree video in the education sector soon.

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Deluxe VR Collaborates with General Electric on GE Store VR Experience

Deluxe VR, a Los Angeles-based virtual reality (VR) production studio recently collaborated with General Electric (GE) on the new “GE Store”, a VR experience, which illustrates the various real-world ways in which GE’s various business units collaborate to solve problems.

The experience lets viewers select seemingly disparate GE business units -Healthcare, Oil & Gas, Energy Connection, Transportation, Digital, Renewable Energy, Global Research Center (GRC), or Aviation – letting them see the real-world ways in which they can work together.

The GE YouTube channel has five 360-degree video versions showcasing the GE Store: Transportation & Power, Healthcare + Oil and Gas, Digital & Renewable Energy and Global Research + Aviation. For example the video combining Healthcare with Oil and Gas transports users to the ocean floor to reveal how GE is using ultrasound technology to improve underwater crude oil pipelines.

Andy Goldberg, Chief Creative Officer of GE, said: “Conveying how the interconnectivity of GE technologies encourages the realization of bigger, more impactful outcomes was an ambitious, complex and somewhat abstract idea. VR was the best way to bring it to life, and the Deluxe team have been great partners in doing so. Within this VR experience, people are actively transported into different settings and can see the connections being made across our businesses. We wanted to push the technology beyond its usual boundaries, and Deluxe certainly helped us achieve that high quality execution.”

“GE has been consistently out in front of VR – they’re not afraid to go where other companies hesitate to engage,” said Malte Wagener, head of Deluxe VR. “It was fantastic to have the opportunity to work with Andy and his team. They understand what the medium can do and were really receptive to our designing an experience and visual language to tell the story of GE’s innovation.”

The GE store and the videos are just another example of companies outside of the videogame industry who are using immersive media as a way of promoting brands. For all the latest VR news from around the world, keep reading VRFocus.