HP Innovation Journal Issue 10: Fall 2018

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.

HP Innovation Journal Issue 10: Fall 2018 | Page 36