The National Association of Broadcasters’ Show (NAB) was packed with announcements around VR, AR and MR this year as major industry players brought out the big guns in a bid to stake their claim in this booming market.

One notable example of this is Nokia, which wants to establish itself as the go-to platform for professional content producers in that space by setting a new standard for the creation, delivery and experience of immersive content:

“We believe in the power of virtual reality to transform the human experience. Together, these announcements advance our commitment to empower storytellers to create immersive experiences, enable partners to deliver them efficiently, and ensure audiences can play back experiences in the highest quality possible in ways that transform and awe,” a company spokesperson told Tech Trends.

Some of the key initiatives the company unveiled at NAB 2017 included a high profile partnership with Disney and Lucasfilm to let fans “feel the force of VR like never before.”

NAB was packed with announcements around VR, AR and MR this year
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Image Courtesy of Nokia ©Lucasfilm and Disney

The company announced a multi- year agreement to support the creation of VR experiences to complement Disney’s theatrical film releases. The first one of these will bring VR storytelling Star Wars: The Last Jedi

“We’re thrilled that Star Wars fans around the world will soon be transported into the incredible worlds depicted in the story, to truly feel the power of The Force together.”

Nokia believes that such compelling content is fundamental to driving adoption of virtual and mixed reality, yet creators often face the choice between the ability to develop and distribute that content and delivering high quality. They believe their new OZO Reality Platform solves these issues by enabling professionals to blend VR and mixed reality through easy capture and export of depth maps, allowing for CGI elements to be seamlessly integrated in post-production.

Nokia announced high-profile VR and MR partnerships with Disney and Adobe
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Nokia wants to enable creators to easily produce high-quality VR content
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It delivers this content over real-world networks, and its SDK and OZO Audio technology enables viewers to experience high resolution 360-degree spatial audio and visual while reducing the load on viewers’ Internet connection without VR equipment.

“Together, the Platform offers the complete pipeline across creation, distribution and experience for powerful virtual and mixed reality storytelling,” they claim

They are also keen to democratise the process of VR and MR content creation by making it easier and more accessible. This took shape in the announcement of a collaboration with Adobe, which promises to “take the complexity out of editing 360 VR immersive content.”

At NAB, they previewed technology that showed the possibilities that come with exporting stitched media and orientation metadata directly into Adobe® Premiere® Pro CC for editing and post-production work.

Nokia says its seamless process and comprehensive-yet-simple workflow was a big hit with the NAB crowd
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For help getting your own VR/AR/MR project off the ground, get in touch about our Virtual Reality Consultancy services 

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post #NABShow 2017: Nokia Brings VR Storytelling to Star Wars appeared first on Tech Trends.

Filmmakers are fast recognising the amazing potential of VR as a storytelling medium, yet so far the experiences they created have been universally short.

There are a few reasons for that, including high production costs and issues around motion sickness that many people experience with prolonged immersion.

“There are very few experiences in this world that are worth 100% of your time and attention, and that’s one of the reasons why VR experiences tend to be shorter right now,” says Timoni West, Lead Designer at Unity’s research arm Unity Labs. “There’s no way to check your phone in VR, it’s very hard to find your drink if you’ve misplaced it. VR demands most of your attention, and there is nothing else out there that does that except maybe a newborn child.”

But while we probably won’t start watching feature-length films in VR until we solve these issues – and VR hardware advances make it possible to comfortably wear the headsets for extended periods of time – there’s nothing to stop some creative cross-pollination between Hollywood and VR happening in the meantime. In fact, the first such big-league partnership has just been announced:

Filmmakers are fast recognising the amazing potential of VR as a storytelling medium
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I want INVASION! to be the next Toy Story
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Baobab Studios is looking to turn its award-winning experience INVASION! into a feature film
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Roth Kirschenbaum Films is headed by Jeffrey Kirschenbaum (former Universal co-president) and Joe Roth, a producer specializing in giving unusual twists to classic children’s tales such as Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, Snow White and the Huntsman with Kristen Stewart and Angelina Jolie’s misunderstood bad fairy in Maleficent.

“VR has great storytelling power,” says Baobab’s Eric Darnell, who will write the script, and is no newbie to Hollywood himself, having grossed $2.5B box office from work on Antz and Madagascar films.

VR has great storytelling power
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So it’s fair to say they have big ambitions for the project:

“I want INVASION! to be the next Toy Story,” confirms Roth, “It struck an emotional chord.”

“The immersive beauty of INVASION! opened our eyes to fertile ground for new IP with amazing new characters,” adds Kirschenbaum.

I can see what they mean. When I eagerly unboxed my Samsung Gear VR a few months back, INVASION was the first experience I tried, and I was immediately captivated by the clumsy aliens trying to destroy the earth and the bunnies (one of which you embody) who do their best to stop them. I wasn’t alone. The experience won praise at Tribeca and Cannes and has consistently been a top download on Oculus, Samsung and Hulu.

VR is set to claim its place in the creative ecosystem
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VR is certainly set to claim its place in the creative ecosystem, and we shall be watching with interest to see how that pans out.

For companies looking to get into VR/AR/MR our Virtual Reality Consultancy services offer guidance on how these technologies can enhance and support your brand strategy.

Alice Bonasio is a VR Consultant and Tech Trends’ Editor in Chief. She also regularly writes for Fast Company, Ars Technica, Quartz, Wired and others. Connect with her on LinkedIn and follow @alicebonasio and @techtrends_tech on Twitter.

The post Will VR Give Us the Next Toy Story? appeared first on Tech Trends.