universal pictures – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

October 11, 2019

Ford Takes In-Car Entertainment Virtual With Bride of Frankenstein

One day autonomous vehicles will be a normal everyday occurrence, taking us where we need to go without a second thought. Which means in tandem with this revolution in how the populous gets about, there needs to be a consideration on how time is spent, especially when it comes to long journeys. Which is why Ford and several other companies have got together to create an immersive in-car experience called Bride of Frankenstein.

Bride of Frankenstein

In conjunction with Universal Pictures’ Universal Monsters franchise, they enlisted the help of British creative studio REWIND (Curfew: Join The Race, Ghost in the Shell VR) and German tech startup Holoride to create a unique piece of entertainment.

Holoride specialises in creating in-car entertainment using virtual reality (VR), going beyond merely providing a headset to enjoy a VR experience. The technology the company has created combines both navigational and car data – such as steering, acceleration, and braking – to create a sort of ‘car theme park ride’ first seen earlier this year at CES.

So the teams have re-imagined the world of The Bride of Frankenstein, putting it inside new 2020 Ford Explorer vehicles for a special October showcase in Los Angeles. Once guests are inside the car they’ll put on a headset and find themselves joined by the Bride of Frankenstein on a special mission. REWIND’s immersive VR experience will see riders encounter interactive monsters and obstacles, complete with sound effects and visuals that react and adapt to every twist and turn of the journey and every nuance of the car’s movement.

Bride of Frankenstein

Universal Monsters Presents Bride of Frankenstein holoride will be publicly available from 14th October on select dates until 9th November at Universal CityWalk Hollywood. Completely free to try, the experience will last 10 minutes, and you are advised to book – a standby line will also be in operation.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of both REWIND’s latest VR experiences and Holoride’s continued expansion as more car manufacturers explore innovative entertainment possibilities.

October 4, 2018

Journey to the Moon With the First Man VR Experience

You’ve been to Mars thanks to movie tie-in The Martian: VR Experience so it makes sense that a film about the moon might get a virtual reality (VR) addition as well. Ryan Gosling’s latest feature First Man is due to hit cinemas next week, and for US fans certain AMC cinema’s the First Man: VR Experience to lucky guests.

First Man

Following the story behind the first manned mission to the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the decade leading to the historic Apollo 11 flight, First Man sees Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle and star Ryan Gosling reteam for this visceral account based on the book by James R. Hansen.

Guests attending AMC Theatre lobbies in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and Washington, D.C. will find the First Man: VR Experience. Created by RYOT and CreateVR in collaboration with Universal Pictures, the VR experience uses the full motion Positron Voyager chair which has been specifically designed for cinematic VR.

The experience works as follows:

You begin our journey in NASA’s Mission Control, where you can explore and see exclusive video of First Man, including interviews with Oscar-winning director Damien Chazelle (La La Land), and stars Ryan Gosling and Claire Foy about the courage and daring of the Apollo 11 mission.
You are then placed in Armstrong’s shoes — and in his seat — inside the Apollo 11 Command Module, seconds before launch. The interior of the spacecraft is historically accurate and finely detailed in the placement and appearance of every switch, knob, dial and window.
You feel the immense, barely contained power of the Saturn V rocket as it lifts you out of Earth’s orbit and into zero-gravity.
Then, you will arrive at Day 4 of the mission, in lunar orbit, and will begin the descent to the surface of the moon.
You will pilot the Lunar Module, The Eagle, next to fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin (Corey Stoll), as you experience, firsthand, Armstrong’s grit, determination and nerves of steel as you land safely on the lunar surface. Both the Earth and the moon are built to scale, so the veracity and authenticity of the experience is as close to reality as possible.

“The First Man: VR Experience has been specially designed and customized for Voyager,” says Positron CEO Jeffrey Travis. “The unique motion and haptics in the chair, combined with a true volumetric environment, recreates an unmatched, spine-tingling experience of journeying inside the Apollo 11 from take-off to the first lunar landing. In addition, First Man is the first VR experience for Voyager that brings 6DOF (6 degrees of freedom) and interactivity to the Voyager platform. We can’t wait for audiences to experience this new level of immersion, and we are proud to partner with Universal on this historic project.”

For further updates on First Man: VR Experience, keep reading VRFocus.

WHERE:	Universal Cinema AMC at CityWalk Hollywood, Los Angeles
	AMC Metreon 16, San Francisco
	AMC Georgetown 14, Washington, D.C.
	AMC Lincoln Square, New York City

WHEN:	Friday, October 5 – Sunday, October 14 in LA, San Francisco, Washington, D.C.
	Saturday, October 6 – Sunday, October 14 in New York City

November 14, 2017

‘Minions’ studio may bring Mario, Luigi back to the big screen in animated film

Minions and Despicable Me animation studio Illumination Entertainment is reportedly close to finalizing a deal with Nintendo to make an animated feature based on the Super Mario Bros. game franchise.

The post ‘Minions’ studio may bring Mario, Luigi back to the big screen in animated film appeared first on Digital Trends.

May 23, 2017

The Mummy Zero Gravity VR Experience Coming to The Shop at NBC Studios in NYC

During the recent South By Southwest (SXSW) conference in Austin, Texas, Universal Pictures, IMAX and engineering firm Positron premiered a virtual reality (VR) experience based on the new Tom Cruise movie The Mummy. Now The Mummy Zero Gravity Stunt VR Experience is getting a much more public outing, coming to The Shop at NBC Studios in New York City this month.

The experience allows the public to go behind-the-scenes with The Mummy stars Cruise and Annabelle Wallis whilst they perform one of the stunts from the film, an intense zero-g segment involving a plane crash. Visitors will be strapped into Positron’s Voyager platform, a full-motion chair designed for cinematic VR. Combining unique software and hardware technology, Voyager guides the viewers’ attention to points of interest in the experience by incorporating gentle motorized yaw and pitch motion and haptic feedback.

Voyager - image 1

There’s an added bonus for those going to see the VR experience. Alongside photo-ops with actual props from The Mummy they’ll be able to play a new title from Starbreeze Studios, The Mummy Prodigium Strike on StarVR.

Players are cast in the role of a Prodigium Agent and are tasked with capturing the ancient Princess Ahmanet—while battling hordes of ravens, spiders and the undead. From ground battles to fighting out of a helicopter, players must protect their fellow agents as The Mummy grows in power, battling to the finish to capture her, or be her slave for eternity. The videogames’ exact availability dates are to be announced soon.

The Mummy Zero Gravity Stunt VR Experience will arrive at The Shop at NBC Studios (30 Rockefeller Plaza, NYC) on Saturday, 27th May, and run through to Sunday, 11th June 2017, from 9am to 6pm daily. Limited reservations will be taken daily, and walk-ins are also welcome.

VRFocus will continue its coverage of The Mummy Zero Gravity Stunt VR Experience, reporting back with any further updates.

February 14, 2017

Fifty Shades Darker Masquerade Ball 360-Video Features Over 200 Live Actors

The debate about whether or not 360 videos are considered “real VR” rages on across the internet, but the fact of the matter is that it’s the most accessible and easily digestible form of immersive content out there right now. Any Google Cardboard device, or even just a smartphone without a VR HMD, can view a 360 video. They can be embedded directly on Facebook and other websites and YouTube naively supports them now. Most aren’t 3D these days, but a video that surrounds you is still a lot more engaging than a standard flat display.

Universal Pictures teamed up with 5th Wall Agency to release a Fifty Shades Darker 360-degree video entitled The Masquerade Ball last week, just in time for the film’s release and for Valentine’s Day. You can see the entire video below:

For those unaware, 360 videos are typically created by a series of cameras that simultaneously record footage and then “stitch” the results together to create the surrounding 360 effect seen when completed. All of the crew was removed in post-production, so it really feels like you’re there. This particular production features over 200 live actors and shows what Hollywood-caliber 360 video is capable of. 5th Wall worked with Universal on the actual sets of the film itself and the actual cast, putting this a few levels above smaller 360 video projects.

“There was something about seeing Christian Grey put on a mask in the films teaser trailer that immediately inspired all of us – We thought: “Wait a second! That kind of looks like someone putting on a VR headset,” said Chris Olimpo, Creative Director at 5th Wall, in a prepared statement. “What if we invited all the fans of this film franchise to “put on their mask,” in the form of a VR headset, and step into the film? Our goal was to be incredibly respectful to the mythology of the Fifty Shades trilogy, so that everything that was done, was done to make the audience feel as though the world of Fifty Shades was real. This wasn’t a film set. This was a real place – a place where you attended the Masquerade Ball. That’s where the power of the medium is its most powerful, true immersion.”

When the existence of a Fifty Shades Darker VR experience was first mentioned back before the movie released, our minds started racing as to what it would entail. The series is notoriously well-known for its graphic and gratuitous sex scenes, but you won’t find any of that here. This Masquerade Ball video is extremely elegant and features plenty of tantalizing sights and sounds that can be enjoyed by just about anyone. Fans of the books and films will love the immersive feeling of actually being present in this iconic scene.

While it’s only a minor, toe-dipping excursion into the world of immersive 360 video for Universal, seeing more elaborate and attractive productions such as this should bode well for the industry. So far, this 360 video has been viewed over 860,000 times on YouTube and over 2.8M times on Facebook, but it’s unknown how many of those were from within a VR headset. Likely not many.

What do you think of this 360 video? Let us know down in the comments below!

Tagged with: 50, fifty shades, universal pictures, Valentine's Day