Augmented Reality Production

Augmented Reality (AR) is the technology that layers computer-generated imagery on top of an existing reality, giving us the ability to experience the world in a new way. It differs from virtual reality in that VR blocks out your reality in its entirety and replaces it with a virtual one. AR, on he other hand, augments your physical world and allows you to see both digital content and your actual reality at the same time. For example, through your tablet or phone, you could see an animated dragon sitting on your kitchen table.

Augmented Reality is developed for apps, social media, and web browsers. It is used on mobile devices to blend the digital world with the real world in such a way that they enhance one another, but can also be told apart easily. It was Pokémon Go and Snapchat that brought AR to the mainstream, but it has been used for years in manufacturing, marketing, publishing and training.

From marker-based and marker-less to projection-based and superimposition-based, augmented reality technology is developing and the market is growing. We've seen AR enabled customer experiences used by the Brit Awards, Yorkshire Tea, Fanta and Ikea. In 2018, East City Films worked with Royal Caribbean Cruises on an augmented reality application to use onboard their new ship, the Celebrity Edge.

East City Films is a purpose-driven augmented reality studio, and our award-winning AR experience, for the British Heart Foundation, was created for the political party conferences in 2019, aiming to shock MPs into changing the legislation on air pollution.

It is becoming more and more common for augmented reality to be used in conjunction with headsets such as the Hololens or Magic Leap. Although strictly called mixed reality or MR, this emerging technology is AR activated through smart glasses a little lighter and less cumbersome than a VR headset. It is still early days for MR and the aforementioned MR hardware, but it is an exciting technology in which, as an augmented and virtual reality company, we are spending time on research and development.

In this COVID 19 world, with many of us spending more time at home, augmented reality has the potential to transform our immediate surroundings into learning, work and entertainment spaces. It will be interesting and exciting to see where this technology goes. We will certainly be leading the way and are keen to hear about and discuss your ideas.

In early 2021 we were commissioned by Sportsbet.io and Arsenal FC to bring content to fans whilst they couldn’t attend the Emirates Stadium in north London. We came up with the world’s first virtual match day programme featuring an AR programme, holographic AR video of 3 players and a virtual team picker. Made available for the Liverpool game on April 3rd this was pretty revolutionary and could be the start of something pretty big. You can check it out on Arsenal’s Facebook feed here.

With virtual worlds, immersive technology, 3D modelling, and virtual objects very much in our lexicon, augmented reality production, AR appications and mixed reality is our future, as much as it could be yours. We offer cutting-edge app development, solutions for brands, design and development, and award-winning creatives. Essentially, we are a high-quality full-service AR agency with incredible VR experience.

If you’ve got an interesting project which might involve AR in mind, we’d love to hear from you. Don’t hesitate to get in touch.