Virtual Reality: The Interactive Science Hub
A new future for the performing arts?VR and 360° productions now allow for audience engagement far off the concert hall and even provide user experiences beyond the real. Producers, broadcasters, opera houses, concert halls and musicians enhance immersion and captivate viewers extensively by VR technology, content, music and art.
Emerging as omnipresent phenomenon across industries and with a fast development, VR is still in the early stages of development without blueprints. Global pioneers currently shape a potential future for performing arts audiences.
To achieve highest levels of immersion, institutions, artists and publishers need to establish effective collaborations. This interactive science exposition facilitates professional collaborations with a three-fold programme of 1. content presentation, 2. the demonstration of brands and products including interactive workshops and 3. an open panel inviting all attendants.
Find out more about the future of Virtual Reality and what it can do for the performing arts, in our IMZ Industry Newsletter interview with Kay Meseberg, Head of Virtual Reality/360 at ARTE and click here to stay up to date with the latest industry news.
Tech Area
HOST
Kay Meseberg
Head of Virtual Reality/360 at ARTE
ARTE, the European cultural network, is staying true to itself and experimenting with the newest form of visual storytelling. The new ARTE360 App, which enables you to watch immersive 360° programmes and experience virtual reality, is a view into a possible future of TV.
PRESENTERS
Thierry Baujard
Founder and CEO, Media Deals
The goal of the ’VR for audiovisual Finance Network’ is to gather financial players interested in being involved in the financing of VR content in Europe. The technology is ready but content is lagging behind as the VR business model is still in development. This network will offer the different players a community to discuss projects and look at the best ways to finance VR projects.
Thomas Oberender
Director, Berliner Festspiele
Each visitor finds a personal version of a story and breathes life into it through their imagination when visiting Mona el Gammal’s Narrative Spaces, which are filled and charged with stories and information. Texts, objects, smells, sounds and lighting moods reveal a story that viewers can process individually. They don’t observe reality with detachedness, but put the fragments of the immersive story together themselves.
Niko Schröer
Business Development, Android Apps EMEA, Google
The Daydream View headset is made with lightweight fabric, inspired by what you wear. Paired with a controller, both are designed to be easy and intuitive and allow you to immerse yourself in new worlds, kick back in your personal VR cinema, and play games that put you in the center of the action.
Frank Stahmer & Kurt Danner
Co-Founders, Bellevue Virtual Media
The Virtual Concert Hall App is two in one: an enhanced VR 360° 3D video player and a store library through which content owners and providers can bundle and offer their extensive music-related VR content – from single project to entire VR music store. And audiophile music lovers can download or stream VR music events, enjoy multiple interactive view points and headtracked Ambisonic surround sound.
Dr. Ing. Stephan Steglich
Director of Business Unit Future Applications and Media, Fraunhofer Fokus
The Fraunhofer FOKUS Cloud-based 360° Video Playout for HbbTV enables high quality 360° video experience on low capability devices or in cases of constrained network connectivity. The video material necessary for 360° videos, demands a large bandwidth and a lot of processing. Now the rendering of the individual view can be performed on server side, so that only the selected video content is streamed to the end device.
Dr. Johannes Steurer
Principal Engineer Research and Development, ARRI
Camera and display technologies for 360° video and VR will be analysed and compared to the capabilities of the human vision. From this discrepancy requirements will be derived, acting as a guideline for the design of high quality capture technology. First results of test shootings with a panoramic 360° camera, based on cooperation between ARRI and Fraunhofer HHI, will be presented.
Christian Stiegler
Senior Lecturer at the Department of Social Sciences, Media and Communications, Brunel University London
Storytelling in VR is highly experimental, emphasising visual spectacle and novelty. 'ConceiVR' repositions our understanding of the relationship between traditional narrative structures and immersive approaches in VR. In collaboration with ARTE and Berliner Festspiele, and artists such as Björk, it aims to design a storytelling framework for feature-length VR productions based on empirical results.
Thomas Wallner
Founder and CEO, Deep. Inc
DEEP has developed Liquid Cinema, a software platform and toolset that allows filmmakers, producers and broadcasters to create and distribute story based 360° and VR content across the web, mobile and VR devices. It is currently being used as a VR distribution platform by major European and US Networks including Dow Jones Corporation, The Wall Street Journal, ZDF and ARTE.
Pierre Zandrowicz & Antoine Cayrol
Founders, Okio Studi
Okio-Studio is a creative surround Video Production House based in Paris, specializing in immersive experience for Occulus-Rift and other virtual reality devices. The team utilizes custom built tools and proprietary technology to craft original immersive experiences, pioneering end-to-end solutions for creating truly immersive cinematic VR.
