East City Films During The Coronavirus
So Long Real, Hello Virtual
The world as we know it has taken a pause for a few months at least. With the Coronavirus and Covid-19 taking over our lives, we're suddenly at home grappling with a new reality. Be it working from home, being furloughed from our jobs, home-schooling kids, or indeed being one of the wonderful key workers in hospitals and supermarkets, this existence is unprecedented.
Perhaps Zoom, FaceTime and Google Hangouts have taken root in your daily routine like never before, catching up with friends and family, or keeping business going. The technology has been with us for a long time but we've all been averse to using it because we prefer actual physical human contact. I'd be the first to say it's fantastic technology - I have a Zoom Inn pub quiz tonight - but it does have its limitations. This I think is where AR and VR can come in and bridge the gap between the real-world (pre-Covid-19) and the Zoom-world (post-Covid-19).
“It’s very possible that quarantine and lockdown may be the behaviour change that will prompt people to put on their VR headsets rather than venturing out to the physical world,” said Rizwan Virk, a venture capitalist and author of The Simulation Hypothesis.
“The virtual world may end up being the best way to interact, especially with idealised versions of ourselves as our avatars. And that was the promise of VR all along: that it’ll be more fun (and much safer) to use VR for everything from going to school, attending a conference, and perhaps even virtual relationships!”
At East City Films we are seeing things positively and remain open for business. Below I've laid out the areas of service that remain and we hope to be able to provide you with in the coming months, plus one or two extras from the world of VR as a whole.
Augmented Reality
The beauty of AR is that it can bring an interactive 3D object into people's lives without them having to leave the safety of their own home. Through the phone or tablet, we can create entire experiences around an object and an idea. Our work with the British Heart Foundation puts a 3D city in front of the user which they can interact with and explore to learn more about air pollution (something which is thankfully going down due to the lockdown). The bridging of the virtual world with the real world is pretty intoxicating. AR is potentially perfect for these strange times and can be created from scratch in CGI or using existing graphical assets. Our team is ready to go with AR so give us a shout if you want to discuss an idea or a problem to solve.
Virtual Reality
Although we do an awful lot of 360 filming (which is currently off-limits), so much of the virtual reality we produce is created using existing 3D assets or CGI from scratch. This means that we can carry on producing content for you during the lockdown. Right now immersive storytelling is the closest we have to replacing the real thing, be it through a VR headset at home or 360° video on a phone, tablet or computer. We're ready to go with the tools to make your VR idea a reality, and believe that anything we create can go some way to providing virtual experiences that are much needed during the Coronavirus.
Live 360° Streaming
This is a little bit trickier as we all have to stay at home and social distance, but if you are keen to take things a little further than Zoom, Google Hang Out or FaceTime, to live-stream something in 360° video we would be happy to assist where we can. The benefit of live streaming in 360° video is that viewers are able to explore and choose where they look rather than solely seeing through a rectangular box. It is arguably the next best thing from actually being there and right now that is going to be in very high demand. With our partners at Meta Camera to more simple low-end solutions, we’ve got options. Get in touch and we'll discuss the possibility of setting you up.
Post Production, Audio & VFX
We are fully set up to provide post-production, audio and VFX services over the next few months with all of our editors, stitchers and visual effects artists able to work from home. So if you have a project which has been filmed but not yet stitched or edited, or you have some VFX to add to an existing project, then we are able to help you out. Now could be the perfect time to get that project finished and we’re happy to come in at any stage. From Mistika and Maya to ProTools and Premiere we’ve got you covered.
Virtual Conferences
Now we’re not really into producing virtual conferences but I thought I would share what has already been going on in the world of conferences since March. The biggest and I suppose the most obvious host of a fully virtual reality conference was HTC with their Vive Ecosystem Conference (V2EC2020). This conference was hosted by a company called Engage which is an education and training platform in virtual reality. Check out how it looked below. We could start seeing many more events help like this and if you want any help navigating it we would be happy to be of assistance.
I also suggest you check out AltspaceVR who have been creating virtual worlds to meet up in for some time. They hosted Microsoft’s first Educators In VR Summit in February. Organiser Daniel Dyboski-Bryant said the event was an unqualified success. “We achieved everything we set out to do and more. We worked with all our preferred platforms. We let our community and volunteers shine. We shined a spotlight on the industry and proved the viability of this tech for education and large events. We got high-level attention. And we had a fantastic time.” The positive by-product of all this is a reduction in travel and therefore carbon emissions. According to Katie Kelly of AltspaceVR, “I did a rough estimate and factoring in the travel time and CO2e estimates that would have been spent. This summit took about 9 thousand cars off the road for the week of the summit and saved attendees around 5 million miles of travel. So whether we’re combating a global outbreak, climate change or remote work – there’s a lot that AltspaceVR and other VR platforms can do to help.” Watch this space for more developments in events hosted in VR.
VR Headsets
Having read all of the above perhaps you're now thinking now is the time to invest in a VR headset for your staff or yourself. I would recommend the Oculus Quest. This is a stand-alone headset created by Facebook's Oculus Rift. It requires no phone or computer and provides interaction and 6 degrees of freedom (the ability to move around virtual worlds). The price is pretty good too, generally available for £399. Alternatively, you could go for the Oculus Go at £139 which is a good stand-alone headset but doesn't have such sophisticated interactions or 6 degrees of freedom of the Quest. You could also try the Vive range of headsets which offer much the same as the Oculus stable but remain tethered to a PC until the Cosmos Play is released. Of course, the phone is able to deliver high quality 360 video and augmented reality so you do already have the tools necessary to experience many immersive experiences.
So as you can see there's still plenty that we can do for you, and as Charlie Fink of Forbes says, “This crisis is good for VR because we need to be apart, but we want to be together”.
We’re also continuing to plan ahead, so if you have any projects still slated for later in 2020 or indeed 2021 then we’re happy to start discussing them. Obviously there isn’t much certainty around what’s happening but we’re always up for a chat and if things can be repurposed to be more post-production, animation or CGI focused then we’re good to go on VR, AR or good old fashioned 16:9.
Don't hesitate to get in touch.
Thanks, Ashley