HP Innovation Journal Issue 10: Fall 2018 | Page 36
After a minute of peering over an icy cliff (while White
Walkers were shooting fiery arrows in my direction), I was
exhilarated in a way I hadn’t felt since my first upside-down
roller coaster ride as a kid.
COMING TO A MALL NEAR YOU
Navid Khonsari, one of the project’s creators, says although
each audience member is presented with the same sensations,
“everybody goes through the experience in their own way.
Whether they stop or proceed, whether they crawl, whether
they scream… each person makes decisions at different points
in the film,” he says.
Welcome to the world of location-based VR, a niche but
rapidly growing form of entertainment that combines the
industry’s most advanced visual effects with old-fashioned
tactile and sensory stimulation.
Not long ago these experiences were only available to insiders
at events like SXSW and Sundance, but thanks to advances
in technology and inspired creators, venues around the world
are starting to make immersive, site-specific VR experiences
available for anyone with an entry ticket.
“Location-based VR is anywhere you are doing a virtual reality
experience outside of your home,” explains Joanna Popper,
head of location-based VR entertainment for HP. “That could
be a theme park, a cinema, an arcade, a family entertainment
center, a cruise ship, a mall.”
These experiences are very different from the 360-degree
video one watches on portable headsets (like Google’s
Cardboard or the Samsung Gear) and more intricate than
anything you can create in your home with VR setups like
Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. With offerings that can range from
hang gliding over mountains to diving with whales, location-
based VR experiences are cropping up in permanent arcades
or site-specific installations around the country. A recent
Hollywood Reporter story projected that location-based VR
would be a one-billion-dollar business by the end of the year.
Two new films show the range of what’s possible: Hero from
Inkstories and Starbreeze Studios, and Chorus from WITHIN
(both of which were recently showcased using HP equipment).
A scene from Hero, which takes place amid the aftermath of a violent event
in a Syrian village. Courtesy of Inkstories and Starbreeze Studios
This personalized experience is made possible by the
merging of creativity and HP VR technology. In addition to
a headset that allows a viewing field of 210 degrees, an HPZ
VR backpack PC gives the wearer freedom of movement. It
enables a truly untethered experience free from distracting
cords and cables, so the wearer can touch things one by
one and experience all the sensory feedback such as heat
or vibration. Says Khonsari, “It's like an incredible jigsaw
puzzle—that all the pieces actually came together—so that
somebody can have that experience of being able to walk
around in a virtual world.”
“SOME PEOPLE CALL IT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
BE THE HERO OF THE STORY
Wowing audiences at both the Sundance and Tribeca film
festivals, Hero not only transports the viewer to an inaccessible
place—a public square in the middle of a Syrian village—but
also asks the viewer to make decisions about where to go and
how to respond after a violent event has occurred.
The person experiencing the film gets to make choices:
Should you move closer to the voices calling out to you?
What happens when you reach your hand out toward
another? Combining computer-generated animation with
real-life sensations like heat, vibration and tactile feedback
(you can feel surfaces such as the roughness of a tire or the
cold smoothness of a pipe), Hero creates a deep emotional
connection amid a volatile encounter.
Innovation Journal Issue Ten
STORYTELLING AND STORY-LIVING.” — Joanna Popper,
Head of Location-Based VR Entertainment for HP
MORE FUN WITH FRIENDS
If Hero resonates with its viewers, often making them
empathetic to the point of tears, Chorus, a WITHIN Original
created by Tyler Hurd, is at the other end of the experience
spectrum. Its goal? Pure joy.
You instantly join the narrative of this animated short,
becoming one of a small band of futuristic, fantastical female
heroes (intergalactic Amazons). You and your teammates must
join ranks to battle some enormous demons, all while your
movements and vision are choreographed to the hypnotic beats
of Justice, a French electronic band.