vr documentary – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

February 15, 2022

Alex Honnold: The Soloist VR Brings Free Solo Star To Oculus TV For Quest

Alex Honnold: The Soloist VR, a new two-part VR documentary, will bring viewers on a new adventure with the famous solo climber known for the award-winning documentary Free Solo.

Released in 2018, Free Solo won Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards for following Honnold on his journey to perform a solo climb of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.

Now, Honnold’s climbing adventures will continue, but this time they’re being documented for a brand new virtual reality documentary. Presented over two parts, The Soloist VR will premiere on Oculus TV for Meta Quest headsets on March 3.

The series documents Honnold “on a soloing journey across the U.S. and Europe” using high resolution 360-degree footage captured in 3D. The series was developed over two years in partnership with Jonathan Griffith Productions, who were also behind the production of Everest VR: Journey to the Top of the World.

Alex Honnold: The Soloist VR Brings Free Solo Star To Oculus TV For Quest — Jonathan Griffith setting up the VR camera on the Yellow Wall, Dolomites. Image provided by Meta.

Here’s a breakdown of what to expect in each episode of The Soloist VR:

In Episode 1 of Alex Honnold: The Soloist VR, viewers begin by getting to know Honnold, before following him to Yosemite National Park, home of the famed El Capitan, and Red Rocks. Viewers are then brought to Europe where Honnold teams up with Swiss climber Nicolas Hojac to tackle some of the toughest free solo climbs in the Dolomites.

Episode 2 culminates with Honnold and Hojac battling a snowy and wet summer in Europe while they attempt to free solo American Direct on the Aiguille du Dru in Chamonix and the Kuffner arete on Mont Maudit – the Cursed Mountain – the second-highest peak in the Mont Blanc Massif.

You can learn more about the two-part series and watch a brief trailer over on the official site.

Alex Honnold: The Soloist VR will be available on Oculus TV for Meta Quest headsets from March 3.

March 11, 2020

BBC Launches ‘Micro Kingdoms’ Experience for Magic Leap, Narrated by Stephen Fry

BBC Studios and AR/VR studio PRELOADED today launched BBC Earth – Micro Kingdoms: Senses, the interactive documentary for Magic Leap 1. Narrated by Stephen Fry, the AR experience brings user into the tiny world of insects and arachnids.

Created in collaboration with the BBC Natural History Unit, the same minds behind Planet Earth and Blue Planet, Micro Kingdoms lets users get up close and personal with a two species of creepy crawlers—a Leaf Cutter Ant colony from the tropical rainforests of Central America and the Wandering Spider from the Atlantic Forest of Eastern Brazil.

Although originally slated to launch in Fall 2019, the experience is arriving today on Magic Leap 1 headsets.

According to a behind-the-scenes video (linked below), the virtual invertebrate stars of the app were created using photo and video references sourced from BBC’s Natural History Unit. Environmental props, such as plants and logs, were created using photogrammetry, a technique for reconstructing 3D geometry with high-resolution textures from real photographs and other data.

And it seems to pack in a fair amount of interactivity as well, as its said to include a dynamic soundtrack to underpin key events. Peering through a magnifying glass, you can watch the ants go to work demolishing a leaf.

“The way the ants move around, the way they communicate, is completely authentic to how they would behave in the wild. Likewise with the spider—the way it stalks its prey, the way it responds to your presence,” said Phil Stuart, Creative Director at Preloaded.

The release of Micro Kingdoms follows a string of third-party apps created for Magic Leap 1 via the company’s Independent Creator Program, including BBC Civilizations from indie studio Nexus Studios.

Magic Leap appears to still be on that warpath for high-quality, curated content. To that effect, the company is giving away more Magic Leap 1 hardware and engaging more independent developers soon through its upcoming LEAP Con in May, a more intimate affair at its Florida HQ than its inaugural dev conference in 2018.

And although slick (and probably pretty expensive) offerings like Micro Kingdoms feel like the company is filling out Magic Leap World with consumer-focused experiences for an impending, bona-fide consumer headset release, the company has said its Magic Leap 2 headset will still be focused on enterprise and prosumers segments when it launches in 2021. So it seems only relatively few people will ever enjoy the dulcet tones of Stephen Fry as he waxes poetic about bugs, at least until the original Magic Leap 1’s $2,300 price tag is reduced.

The post BBC Launches ‘Micro Kingdoms’ Experience for Magic Leap, Narrated by Stephen Fry appeared first on Road to VR.

May 4, 2019

VR Arcades Will be Able to Showcase Targo’s Immersive Documentaries Using Synthesis VR

Targo is a specialist in virtual reality (VR) documentaries, tending to distribute its content via apps like Samsung VR, InceptionVR, Oculus Video and LittlStar for a range of headsets. To broaden that content delivery even further the company has now partnered with Synthesis VR to enter the VR arcade market.

Synthesis VR is a location-based entertainment (LBE) content and licensing platform which is currently used in over 120 locations worldwide with over 150 experiences in its catalogue. Thanks to the new partnership Synthesis VR will now be able to offer its customers all of Targo’s immersive documentaries no matter where they are.

The trend in LBE content tends to focus purely on interactive content, whether that’s single-player experiences or multiplayer mashups. As the industry expands and diversifies there has been a growing demand for travel, educational, documentary and journalism experiences from customers.

“Though VR locations and arcades have been focused on gaming, there has been a pivot and more locations and consumers are interested in experiences and non-gaming content in the past few months,” said A Shabeer Sinnalebbe, CEO of Synthesis VR in a statement.

TARGO

“With this partnership, we want to offer arcades the tools to reach everyone, beyond the gamers. There are still so many people who don’t know that VR can be used for documentaries,” adds Victor Agulhon, CEO of TARGO.

VR Arcades need to stay fresh a vibrant, hosting not only popular videogames but new and revolving content. As such, Targo and Synthesis VR will be releasing a new documentary each month for the platform, which should help attract new customers and retaining existing customers.

Remember, if you prefer watching VR documentaries at home you still can very easily. In November 2018 Targo released its very own free app for Oculus Go, allowing users to view all of the films created so far. Or for those that own an HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR, Google Daydream, Samsung Gear VR or Windows Mixed Reality headset there’s always one of the other apps previously mentioned. VRFocus will continue its coverage of Targo, reporting back with the latest content and expansion updates.

April 26, 2019

Oculus Quest Is Getting A Room Scale National Geographic Experience

The library for the upcoming Oculus Quest standalone headset is mostly games- but National Geographic Explore VR is an exception.

The experience takes you on a “dramatic trip” through Antarctica with the ultimate goal of finding a lost penguin colony. Users will ride on a kayak through ice filled waters, then climb an ice cliff and tackle a snow storm.

Nat Geo partnered with dutch developer Force Field to develop the experience. Force Field has developed games such as Landfall, Coaster Combat, and Pet Lab.

While the experience can be a passive experience if you want, more experienced users have the option of interactivity. Users will be able to use their Touch controllers to set up camp, build a wind barricade, and zip up their survival tents. “We’ve built these activities with an option to be physically active or passive, so they’re enjoyable for the entire family,” National Geographic said.

While National Geographic has released 360 videos in the past, this is their first realtime positional tracked experience. This form of documentary is new, and while it doesn’t give a real world view, the fidelity and ability to move around in and interact with the environment proves compelling in experiences like Everest VR.

This experience will last roughly 30 minutes, but National Geographic aren’t stopping here. Future updates will add more parts of the world, such as “archaeological expeditions packed with cultural heritage.”

There’s no word on whether this experience will come to Rift or other platforms, but we’ve reached out to Facebook to find out this information.

Tagged with: National Geographic, Oculus Quest, VR documentary

The post Oculus Quest Is Getting A Room Scale National Geographic Experience appeared first on UploadVR.

February 1, 2019

Disney, CNN, National Geographic, Starbreeze recognized for VR projects

The Advanced Imaging Society held its tenth annual awards ceremony this week at Warner Bros Studios and virtual reality was a major focus of the event.

Ready Player One, based in a virtual reality world, took the award for best live action 3D feature and best stereography.

CNN took home the award for the best use of VR for social impact for its documentary Van Jones’ The Messy Truth VR, produced by Magic Labs Media and Meridian Hill pictures.

According to Magic Labs, the series was created by Van Jones, a TV host, activist and Magic Labs Media co-founder. The first episode stars Winston Duke, who played M’Baku in the the Oscar-nominated film, Black Panther. Duke also served as a producer.

The Messy Truth VR Experience is a virtual reality series that puts viewers in the shoes of people from other walks of life, in communities that may be unfamiliar to them. Utilizing VR, the viewer sees through the eyes of a 12-year old African-American boy as he and his dad are pulled over by the police. The scenario is based on a real-life incident, with research provided by Time Magazine.

“Sometimes it seems nearly impossible to truly understand what a person of a different race, gender or worldview is going through,” Van Jones said in a statement. “But a virtual reality experience can give life-changing insight. VR has the potential to be the world’s most powerful tool for generating empathy and understanding. It’s time to start using this new technology to bring us together across old divides.”

There’s no information yet about where people can see the film.

(Image courtesy Disney Animation Studios.)

Disney scored with Cycles, its first VR animated short film, which was selected as the best animated VR experience.

It’s been shown at festivals, but, again, there’s no information about where the film is available to the public, but you can see an interview with the director below.

National Geographic’s One Strange Rock VR Experience won for Best Use of VR for Education.

It was the first 3D virtual reality film show in space. Watch the 360-degree video below, or in virtual reality with your favorite VR headset.

Starbreeze Studios and Ink Stories’ Hero won the best immersive VR experience award.

To create Hero, Starbreeze Studios partnered with DTS to create a 20 by 30 foot space in which participants were immersed in an ambient sound environment created with 30 cinema-grade loudspeakers and four cinema subwoofers.

The Sun Ladies was chosen as the best 360-degree film. It was produced by Maria Bello and Lucid Dream Productions, and directed by Celine Tricart.

The documentary focuses on women who escaped from ISIS and formed a women-only fighting unit to rescue other women and girls taken as sex slaves. The VR experience is an in-depth look at the personal journey of the captain of the Sun Ladies, Xate Singali, from her roots as a famous singer in Kurdistan to her new life as a soldier on the front lines. Maria Bello provided Singali’s voice.

The film was released last year at Sundance, and was the official selection at the festival. Again, there’s no word about where it can currently be seen.

Other Winners: VR at the mall and office

(Image courtesy Hologate.)

Hologate won the award for the best location-based VR experience.

The company makes multi-player modules that can hold from one to four players at a time, designed to be installed at event facilities, arcades, shopping malls, and other venues.

TRIPP was recognized for the best use of VR for health and well-being.

The Advanced Imaging Society’s Lumiere awards are voted by members of the Hollywood creative and technology community working in motion pictures, television, and emerging media.

January 30, 2019

Sheffield Doc/Fest 2019 Launches £20,000 Commission For VR/AR Docs

Sheffield Doc/Fest 2019 is on the hunt for its next big documentary using immersive tech.

The festival today announced the launch of its Alternate Realities commission. It’s offering £20,000 to produce a new digital project that could use either AR, VR or other media. That’s quite a jump on last year’s £12,000 commission, which produced a VR experience called Face to Face. Previous projects also include the emotionally moving Future Aleppo.

This year’s winner will feature at the festival in June. But Doc/Fest has also partnered with digital creativity festival, MUTEK. The winning experience and its creator will travel to the festival in Montreal, Canada for the show from 20th – 25th August. You’ll also have a chance to speak at the event.

The piece will also feature in the Alternate Realities Exhibition Tour that travels across the UK and beyond following the festival.

“I am thrilled to welcome Site Gallery, British Council and MUTEK as new supporting partners, alongside Arts Council England; these new relationships will amplify the impact of the project and offer prestigious exhibition opportunities and profile for the successful artist,” said Dan Tucker, Curator of the Alternate Realities programme, in a prepared statement.

Interested? Submissions are open now so have your proposals at the ready. You have until midnight GMT on February 25th to get them in.

Sheffield Doc/Fest runs from June 6th – 11th. You can expect the return of the Alternate Realities exhibition, which has hosted some of our favorite VR experiences of recent years. We’re looking forward to it.

Tagged with: Sheffield Doc/Fest, VR documentary

The post Sheffield Doc/Fest 2019 Launches £20,000 Commission For VR/AR Docs appeared first on UploadVR.

March 11, 2018

Go One-on-One with David Attenborough in ‘Hold the World’ VR Museum Experience This Spring

Hold the World, an upcoming VR experience from Sky, will let you go face-to-face with Sir David Attenborough, the English broadcaster and world’s foremost naturalist as he explains the finer details of some of the creatures in the world we call home.

The experience, which is slated to arrive on Gear VR, Oculus Rift and Daydream VR sometime this spring, takes you to London’s Natural History Museum and puts you right across the table from Attenborough.

Captured volumetrically by more than 100 cameras, Attenborough acts as your personal guide, explaining the importance of each artefact and object selected from the museum’s collection, including a blue whale, a stegosaurus, a trilobite, a dragonfly, a butterfly and a pterosaur.

There, you’ll be able to pick up rare specimens from the London’s Natural History Museum and take you “behind the scenes to explore areas usually closed to the public,” a Sky blog post states.

Attenborough is no stranger to VR documentaries, as he’s lent his voice to several VR experiences including First Life and VR Dive.

”Sharing my passion for the natural world is something I have done for many years through different technologies, from the days of the black-and-white TV to colour, HD, 3D, 4K and now the virtual reality,” said Attenborough. “Hold the World is an extraordinary next step in how we can communicate and educate people about experiences they wouldn’t usually have access to in the real world. I am delighted about what users can learn and discover from the Natural History Museum’s treasures in this new VR experience – it really is one of the most convincing and bewitching experiences that the world of technology has yet produced.”

Hold The World will be available through the Sky VR app on Google Daydream View, Samsung Gear VR and Oculus Rift, and will also be temporarily available as a standalone app on Microsoft Windows “Mixed Reality” VR headsets before it launches on Sky VR for other headsets.

The post Go One-on-One with David Attenborough in ‘Hold the World’ VR Museum Experience This Spring appeared first on Road to VR.

March 6, 2018

VR Marketing for Non-Profit Organisations

Companies everywhere are finally honing in on the immersive power that virtual reality (VR) offers, including in the design, entertainment, education, and retail industries. VR heightens the customer experience, leading to greater engagement and ultimately, a deeper emotional connection with the brand. Taking this to the next level now, are non-profit organisations, who have begun using VR in effective and impactful ways to highlight their causes.

Clouds Over Sidra Imagine scrolling online and coming across a news video about a natural disaster that’s just occurred. Maybe a journalist is explaining what has taken place, detailing the devastation, and what is needed to restore the community. Now imagine going into VR to view the same aftermath, but this time standing on the front lawn in front of what used to be a family home. Houses are in ruins; cars have been tossed; trees ripped out by the roots. It’s a different experience, isn’t it?

VR takes you there. It gives you an insider’s perspective, and makes the experience your viewing, yours. This emotional bond to a story, this prompted empathy, that VR has the potential to forge makes it the ideal engagement tool for non-profit organisations. VR is raising awareness to causes often overlooked, and in turn, has become a new kind of revenue-generating tool for a new era.

Attendants at a 2016 fundraiser gala hosted by charity: water were shown a VR film entitled The Source which takes place around a rural Ethiopian village. The film follows Selam, a 13-year-old girl who’s tasked with going on the long trek to fetch water for her family’s use. The journey alone is memorable, due to its length and remoteness, but then we see up close the unhygienic state of the water source from which she’s fetching. VR ensures viewers get a very real sense of the conditions Selam’s family lives in, where she goes to school, and what her daily chores are. After a group of aid workers installs a clean-water well, we see the hope and enthusiasm this addition brings the community. We discern the impact it will have on the lives of those who live there. The charity: water gala raised over $2.4 million (USD), which far exceeded expectations.

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) has often used non-traditional (sometimes confrontational) means to tell their story and draw attention to their cause. Their use of VR has generated a great deal of conversation. One video is shot from the perspective of a chicken on a factory farm. Another piece of VR content takes viewers into the concrete orca tanks at SeaWorld. The material is graphic and will likely make you feel uncomfortable, and that’s the point. The emotional reactions VR prompts – like life – aren’t always happy.

Made in partnership with the United Nations, Clouds Over Sidra is a 2015 VR film that highlights the refugee crisis in Syria, as narrated by a 12-year-old girl in the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan. The film depicts the daily lives of the people who live in the camp, who’ve fled their home country merely to survive. It’s the first film shot in VR for the UN, leveraging the medium to tell the important stories of this vulnerable population, and generate greater awareness of their cause.

Clouds Over Sidra

VR is the difference between watching something happen from the outside, and nearly experiencing it for yourself. Currently, there is an estimated 171 million VR users worldwide – a number that’s growing every day. 81% of people who try VR tell others about it, because it is a storytelling medium and we are storytellers at heart. The onslaught of the technology for marketing purposes may still be relatively new. But as long as VR continues to generate an emotional (sometimes uncomfortable) reaction in viewers, we’ll see non-profit organisations leveraging the medium to tell their stories in impactful ways.

February 22, 2018

Isobar & The Australian Museum Chart The History Of Indigenous Dance & Music In ‘Carriberrie’

The use of virtual reality (VR) and 360 degree video technology to tell a story has come along in leaps and bounds over the last couple of years and already in 2018 we’ve had numerous stories relating to the Sundance Film Festival, Slamdance Film Festival and the Raindance Film Festival with more still to come in the months ahead.

Carriberrie It’s not just in the world of fiction either, the VR documentary has also become quite a popular medium. In the last few days alone on VRFocus we’ve brought you news of the BBC adding yet more content to its VR hub with a new VR series exploring how the control of the flow of the river Nile is affecting politics in across the entire continent in Damming the Nile VR. There was also news from another familiar name in this part of the industry, Sheffield Doc/Fest, who have just launched an immersive documentary competition with a £12,000 (GBP) prize.

The latest announcement however comes from Australia and launched by digital agency Isobar. The documentary focuses on the varied ways the indigenous people of the country use dance and use music within their cultures. Called Carriberrie, the Sydney language word for ‘corroboree’ – itself meaning a lively indigenous dance ceremony or gathering – the documentary travels across the country from the rainforest to the desert to the Sydney Opera House itself. Looking at the traditional ceremonial pieces to how that history is inspiring modern day creations across both genres.

Premiering today at Sydney’s Australian Museum, Carriberrie will be shown throughout the month of March as part of Weave, the museum’s inaugural month-long Festival of First Nations and Pacific Cultures.

Carriberrie “The Australian Museum has been a great supporter of the project and I’m thrilled to present the world premiere of the work here, where I feel a kindred passion for exploring, understanding and helping to preserve First Nations cultures.” Said the piece’s director and producer, Dominic Allen.

“Isobar is committed to Australian arts and culture, and Carriberrie offered a great avenue for us to use our digital expertise in an innovative forum, showcasing a blend of traditional and contemporary dance pieces for the first time in VR.” Added Dave Budge of Isobar Australia, “Working with Dom, we’ve been able to truly capture the performances in context, showing the landscape and the country as well as the dancers.”

“For us, it’s also a great example of what can be done with VR. We believe in the power of VR for storytelling, for immersion and for giving a sense of presence and of place. This project helps show that in a beautiful way.”

You can see a teaser for the experience below. Tickets are available from the Australian Museum website and you can also find out more information on the documentary’s website.

February 22, 2018

Isobar & The Australian Museum Chart The History Of Indigenous Dance & Music In ‘Carriberrie’

You can see a teaser for the experience below. Tickets are available from the Australian Museum website and you can also find out more information on the documentary’s website.