AotF Live is a programme of events representing the UK’s world-leading research and development capabilities from the UK government’s two largest investments in the creative industries, the Audience of the Future and Creative Industries Clusters Programmes.

Originally intended to be showcased at SXSW 2020, AotF Live will continue as a virtual programme of events. The original programme was planned to include the first view of 15 early-stage immersive projects in the Immersive Futures Lab.

Future showcases are planned for the latter half of 2020, register for the Audience of the Future newsletter or follow on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedinto get notified about the new dates.

As part of the AofF programme, four projects which, combined, represent the most advanced set of public trials of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality content anywhere in the world. Originally due to premiere across 2020 in a series of event-based launches, these projects have now been reimagined and redeveloped for audiences at home, in the UK and internationally, with a particular focus on families and children.

These projects include the world premiere of Dinosaurs and Robots, a mixed reality experience created for London’s Natural History Museum and Science Museum; a taster of Dream 2020, an immersive dining experience by the Royal Shakespeare Company; an augmented reality experience featuring Aardman Animations’ Wallace & Gromit; and WEAVR, an AI-driven, mixed reality platform that has launched a new version of its experimental platform, creating the world’s first online-only eSports tournaments..

Audience of the Future Live is supported by UK Research & Innovation.

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The Science Museum Group and Natural History Museum have led on the creation of Dinosaurs and Robots, an innovative Augmented Reality experience that brings the future of museum experience into homes. Through a combination of storytelling and cutting-edge technology, this allows visitors to experience environments and collections like never before and encourages families to build and play games that combine STEM skills and creativity using mobile technology.

11 Feb 2021

Award-winning digital media production company, Figment Productions, is on a mission to create premium immersive experiences using ‘hyper reality’. To do that, the team is developing new tools and practices that can help creative teams collaborate better, wherever they are in the world. Figment owner Simon Reveley explained to us how it works.

What’s the big idea?

Figment Productions is developing tools and working practices to help create the ultimate form of virtual reality (VR), known as hyper reality. Hyper reality combines VR with a physical environment, free movement, touch and special effects – such as wind and heat – to help create multi-sensory, immersive experiences. For example, a hyper reality dinosaur attraction might enable a user to actually feel the texture of a dinosaur’s skin, as well as see it in three dimensions through a headset. Few content creation tools exist to develop these premium hyper reality experiences.

What funding did Audience of the Future provide?

The initial project budget was £1 million, of which Figment Productions was funding 20%. The Audience of the Future challenge fund awarded the project around £770,000.consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam.

Who are the partners on the project?

Figment is working with the Royal Opera House (ROH) and Royal Holloway, University of London.

Figment approached ROH seeking a creative partner that would stretch the boundaries of digital production. Together, Figment and ROH have been developing a live show, inspired by a character from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, which uses a hyper reality platform to take audiences on a journey through imaginary landscapes set in six phases of the night, from twilight to dawn. The show was due to open at ROH in November 2020.

Figment has worked with Royal Holloway for a number of years and the university is also a member of the StoryFutures Creative Cluster which helped Figment apply for the Audience of the Future funding.

Welcoming 175 speakers, including experienced and renowned names to new voices from across the creative industries, it was a pleasure to feature the speakers below on the BEYOND 2020 programme.