TV, film, advertising and virtual reality immerse at the VR Creative Summit
The much anticipated VR Creative Summit was designed to explore the potential for immersive content within the film, broadcast and advertising industries. With job titles on the delegate list ranging from Development Producer to Head of Brand and Marketing and including familiar names from the world of TV, advertising and film, the packed cinema was eager to hear what all the noise emanating from the VR industry has been about.
We kicked off the day with the Head of Business and Content Development at Google’s Daydream, their excellent new VR headset and platform. He discussed what Google has been up to since Cardboard was released and that from now on all new Android phones will come Daydream ready. The content pillars for Daydream are; “exploring new worlds”, “entertainment” and “gaming” and with YouTube, New York Times, The Guardian, USA Today, CNN, and the Wall Street Journal already on the platform there’s plenty of platforms to choose from. The Daydream is certainly a welcome heavyweight addition to the medium, to compete with Samsung Gear VR. Google’s importance to VR cannot be overstated.
Next up was a panel featuring experts from hardware, software, market research and production, providing an impressive range of VR experience between them. In amongst their lively discussion on how VR is as much about entertainment, sports, and education as it is about games, they brought up the fact that there are an astonishing 3.4 million Play Station 4s owners in the UK who are consequently only one £350 purchase away from VR. It was agreed that quality content was equally important to the growth of VR as the production of ever more impressive headsets, and that full interaction, along the lines of the recently released John Lewis VR experience on the Oculus Rift, was potentially key to its success. We also heard about IMAX’s plans for an out-of-home, location based virtual reality offering that will deliver “immersive, multi-dimensional experiences, including entertainment content and games to multiplexes, malls and other commercial destinations”. This is exciting stuff and an interesting development on existing VR cinemas.
Following hard on their heals was the panel with Sky VR who have made huge headway into the field by releasing their Sky VR app. Already loaded with thirty two pieces of 360° video content Sky are providing a very public case study for what works and what doesn’t in VR. They talked a great deal about using their existing access to talent, in particular the Premier League, Formula One and new drama Britannia, to make incredible VR experiences. VR City has already been very active in the area, putting viewers on the pitch at the 6 Nations, in the ring with world champion boxer James DeGale, in the kitchen with street food favourites Le Bun, on stage with Faithless at the Exit Festival and amongst stars with a live stream of the MTV EMAs. With a request for original VR ideas and the hoped for “VR game changer”, Sky definitely provided the moment that had the most people in the room circling “need ideas” on their notepads.
With ‘The 10 Commandments of VR Storytelling’ panel featuring some of the biggest technicians in the industry we got some great insight into the various types of VR. From “passive”, “semi active” and “active” to “non-interactive 360”, “interactive 360”, “linear CG” and “fully interactive”, there was plenty to confuse. There’s still clearly some reticence to engage with VR based on the numerous platforms available and this panel did their best to allay the industry fears. There’s definitely a strong case to deliver to every platform, however, we at VR City regularly cite that despite the reach becoming larger as the experience becomes less immersive and more accessible, the impact is significantly reduced. With that in mind we got a nice summary of immersion being the moment “when the technology melts away” and I would emphasise that as engaging and interactive as 360° video on your phone is, the immersion from a headset is what we need people to experience.
After lunch we were treated to an hour and a half of how VR is working for brands and enjoyed a thoroughly enlightening talk from the interactive creative director on the John Lewis VR experience. I would suggest getting down to the store on Oxford Street, as their use of interactivity within the experience and the “theatre” outside the headset shows an ambition and execution that is inspiring. With the next panel involving leads from adam&eveDDB, Thomas Cook and the Financial Times, the post prandial topics continued to be insightful and far reaching. To highlight VR’s progress it was noted that a brand just doing VR is no longer enough, as customers have moved on from the wow moment and have grown to expect more from the experience. For brands that want to go beyond broadcast and into experience, then VR can be incredibly powerful: VR City’s experience with Diageo, creating a multi-sensory, multi-platform, globe trotting Lagavulin Experience is testament to that.
A term that inevitably came up was link between VR and empathy. To put someone in someone else’s shoes, with no external distraction was quoted as being a big point of difference for VR and the reason the UN and charities such as UNICEF, Save The Children and many others, have already embraced it. Our own film Invisible, which goes live on the New York Times VR app next week as Indefinite, sheds light on survivors from the UK’s indefinite detention system. It undoubtedly builds on the nascent VR documentary genre’s ability to deliver a rich experience, inspiring a powerful emotional reaction and the desire to take action.
2016 is not the year of VR, just as 2015 wasn’t the year of VR and 2017 is unlikely to be. I would suggest that there will be no “year of VR”, with a gradual build being the most likely path. This suits the BBC just fine as they showcased their work in the area, very much billed as research and development under their BBC Taster banner. The BBC intends to keep it that way until the content can be of the quality of Planet Earth 2. Which in reality was an idealistically ambitious statement, but their bold intentions of quality were made clear. Much like the National Theatre and the English National Ballet who were also represented, the BBC holds VR in very high esteem, and are exploring it’s potential in genres as wide as the license fee payer expects. From news and current affairs, to science, learning and digital storytelling, with experiences such as BBC Home — A VR Spacewalk, and East Rising: Voice Of A Rebel, their work is without doubt important and pushing the frontiers of VR.
Overall the day was a success and it really felt like VR has grown up and is being taken seriously by the broadcast industry. What surprised me however was the distinct lack of discussion on formats, distribution and monetisation, because that is what, ultimately, underpins the industry. I wonder if the industry is still trying to understand exactly what VR is capable of.
No Small Talk, VR City’s own collaboration with the BBC and our partner Lyristic, is a VR show that lets the audience sit in on a conversation between two well-known, inspirational women, Cherry Healey and Emma Gannon. It follows a clear ambition to create a VR format that is cutting edge both editorially and technologically, and ultimately engaging viewers into committing to a whole series. With projects that provide unique immersion, scalable entertainment, and a genuine connection with an audience and with headsets becoming the norm in people’s homes, perhaps when next year’s VR Summit comes around we might be debating the successes of the industry’s various VR commissions. Let’s hope so.
