The Research Blog

THE DEVELOPMENT OF VIRTUAL REALITY & AUGMENTED REALITY There are three main factors needed for Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) to gain traction as an industry: Price Point: Headsets are expensive and are not affordable for everyone. Currently there are about 10 million headsets sold, however there is a need of having at least 500 million headsets for the industry to start making sense from a business perspective. Mobility: The ability to be able to move around with the headset on is key, right now it doesn’t always factor the physical space in which one is having the experience which creates obstacles for it. Also, some systems require cabling and being confined to a certain area. Content: There is a need for the breakthrough content that will make it popular and take VR mainstream. Pokemon Go has in a way taken AR mainstream but there is still the need for similar content to be created for VR.

USES FOR VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) AND AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) The first distinction that must be done within the content is first off the in-home, smartphone based content for the consumer. Pokemon Go is an example of a “home” consumer content. The second is the most premium “out of home” content. For the “out of home” VR content, you have the B2C entertainment content which looks to build big expensive virtual worlds that the consumer would have to go to an arcade type place to consume for a fee. On the other hand there is also the B2B type content which has multiple applications such as medical, educational, hospitality, real estate, etc. Basically where it is needed and there is demand (vertical). In this sense the industry is going to try and capitalize on any possible application for the AR and VR content, not only entertainment. Although there will also be a lot of monetizing on innovation in the film business.

IMAX VR: IMAX, the company behind the large screens is currently testing premium location based VR arcades. These are characterized for being: Pods Highly Social Single and Multiplayer 5 to 15 minutes experiences. The three main elements in this new business venture are: Entertainment Industry: This attraction will be a new market for the entertainment industry. Real Estate: As in the movie theaters, mainstream premium VR “arcades” will require a location to which the users will go for the experience. Technology: The technology for the pods will have to be much better than the in home technology. It shall also include objects with which the users will interact. The IMAX VR “arcade” is basically a standalone building that has pods which are designed in a social way. You can see into other pods in order to increase visibility. The goal is to be able to play with other people in other pods either in the location of anywhere in the world. The experie...

OVERVIEW OF VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) AND AUGMENTED REALITY (AR) When looking at the industries that are coming we find there are three main technologies that are related but different: Augmented Reality (AR) is the technology of imposing computer generated items over the real world to create the augmented reality. Extended Reality (XR) is the technology that combines virtual and real environments as well as human and machine interactions to create an extended reality Virtual Reality (VR) is the technology through a headset where the person is immersed in a virtual world, therefore having an experience in a virtual environment. VR is the most powerful storytelling medium to take the historically passive viewer and make them a participant that engages with the story and use more of their senses. VR is a disruptive technology which, although it has been labeled as an extension of storytelling in film or an advance to the film viewing experience, such as 3D, the reality is ...

CHARACTERISTICS OF OUT OF HOME VR: There are things that you cannot do in the house with regular VR. This allows for the creation of a new market, a new form of entertainment where customer can pay to have an experience in virtual reality at an out of home location. There is a wide variety of VR, from 180° to 360° wide, mobile / cardboard apps within a room scale. The premium out of home VR allows to take a warehouse scale where you can roam around and physically engage with objects. The out of home will be based on: Social Engagement Freedom to Explore and roam around Highly Sensory Active Because the medium changes how we tell the story, VR will take storytelling from passive to active. Traditional audiovisual storytelling is based on camera, point of view (POV) and composition. Sometimes you have a computer generated (CG) camera. Then there is camera movement, the lens shots and editorial. Someone who edits the content to create the narrative structure. All t...

STORYTELLING EVOLUTION TO VR For the most part, storytelling has always been a passive experience from the beginning. If you were to jot down on a timeline it would look something like this: People gather around the fire to tell stories. Radio narrator, the listener is not involved. TV, Visual Elements and with it the experience comes with more isolation. Gaming / Mobile: Although there is added interaction it brings more isolation and aggregation. Home VR, is an isolated experience, although becomes being active. Out of Home VR is active and social storytelling where the viewer is a participant in the telling of the story. VR focuses on converting the audience member into a participant. The audience can see, hear and form the story of what they want. The key in this type of storytelling is to take care of camera, rely on the emotional pull and influence only, not direct.