Audience of the Future Live https://audienceofthefuture.live Audience of the Future Live Tue, 30 Mar 2021 16:57:46 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.7.2 https://audienceofthefuture.live/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/cropped-AotF-Site-Logo-Favicon-4-32x32.png Audience of the Future Live https://audienceofthefuture.live 32 32 Born in Bradford: Immersive VR https://audienceofthefuture.live/2021/03/born-in-bradford-immersive-vr/ Tue, 30 Mar 2021 16:56:25 +0000 https://audienceofthefuture.live/?p=4327 Born in Bradford is on a mission to improve livelihoods, health and social outcomes in Bradford through large-scale data research. The project has led to an art-science collaboration to build an immersive experience where this data comes to life in extraordinary ways. We talked with Professor Mark-Mon-Williams at the University of Leeds and Dave Lynch […]

The post Born in Bradford: Immersive VR appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Born in Bradford is on a mission to improve livelihoods, health and social outcomes in Bradford through large-scale data research. The project has led to an art-science collaboration to build an immersive experience where this data comes to life in extraordinary ways. We talked with Professor Mark-Mon-Williams at the University of Leeds and Dave Lynch at Immersive Networks Collective about their work.

Where did the idea come from?

Born in Bradford (BIB) is an NHS-led study that tracks the health and wellbeing of over 13,800 children from birth to adulthood. The research gathers data on health, but also the mental and social development of this generation, their aspirations, and the environment around them. It is currently the best described population of children anywhere in the world.

Researchers aim to use the data to develop new ways to work with families and health professionals to collaborate closely with the community in Bradford to improve social and health outcomes. As Professor Mark Mon-Williams, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Leeds helping lead the project puts it, “Born in Bradford is about doing science with, not to children. We see ourselves as engaging a ‘citizen army’, working very much in partnership with the children.”

The idea to develop a BIB immersive Virtual Reality (VR) experience was conceived by Dave Lynch and Christopher De Bezenac, two artists from the Immersive Networks Collective, a group of artists, scientists and technologists working to make complex information available via immersive experiences. They came across the BIB project and met Professor Mon-Williams whilst undertaking a cultural fellowship in art and science at the University of Leeds.

The result of their collaborative work with the university and Reflex Arc (a Bafta nominated immersive production studio) is a VR experience that is visually stunning and fascinating to explore. Each child is represented by a single point, with these points arranged into clusters or ‘meme clouds’ to reveal the similarities and differences between the thousands of children involved in the study. LIDAR data (a method of measuring the earth’s surface with very high accuracy, producing vast datasets) has been used to represent the city, and the data points representing the children morph into clusters and then back again, against this representation. The experience allows the exploration of complex data by visualising it in three dimensional space and using size and colour differences to illustrate patterns and variations.

Who is the audience?

Large data sets describing populations have most value if they are accessible to a wide audience, from scientists and healthcare professionals to policy makers. As Dave Lynch says “a lot of scientific information is presented as a secondary experience, so we wanted to make science tangible and let the senses speak for themselves….Everyone needs to engage fully with the data. We also need to let the children narrate their own story, and illustrate who they are.” Making the data accessible to the community itself is powerful. Researchers can ask them if it looks right and what is missing. The pandemic has exposed the inequalities in health outcomes for different socio-economic groups in the UK and the project shows how opportunities can be created to amplify the voice of less advantaged communities.

What have been the challenges?

Dave notes that one challenge was to create an experience that is going to spark the imaginations of a wide audience, from the Bradford community through to policy makers, “the challenge is opening it up to be a collective storytelling experience”.

The project was due to showcase as part of the Audience of the Future Challenge programme’s Immersive Futures Lab at SXSW in March 2020 and XR Stories, as part of the Creative Industries Clusters Programme, were instrumental in helping get the project onto the SXSW programme. The project also featured at the virtual BEYOND Conference in November 2020.

What are the next steps?

The next steps for the project include working with new data from a marginalised community with low socioeconomic status, Holme Wood and using this to test expanding the immersive experience to technologies that don’t require a VR headset. The BIB approach is also being applied to new datasets and contexts, including the immersive representation of agricultural and environmental research data, laboratory spaces and practices. The team plans to make the method and underlying digital toolkit available to academics from any discipline, and are currently looking for new collaborators and datasets to work with.

The main BiB research programme is expanding out to become ‘Age of Wonder’ with 30,000 children involved together with their families as they progress into secondary school. Age of Wonder is the platform for the ‘Digital Makers’ programme that is aiming to digitally upskill the 30,000 children and teach them about data science – using the Immersive VR work as a starting point. The immersive experience aims to grow alongside the overarching data project, and as the community itself grows.

A 360 film of the prototype experience can be viewed below.

Professor Mark Mon-Williams, University of Leeds

Professor Mark Mon-Williams holds a Chair in Cognitive Psychology at the University of Leeds.

He is also Professor of Psychology at the Bradford Institute of Health Research and Professor of Paediatric Vision at The Norwegian Centre for Vision, and a Turing Fellow in the Alan Turing Institute.

Dave Lynch Immersive Networks Collective (Co-founder)

Dave Lynch is a pioneering artist, creative director, inventor and researcher working internationally at the intersection of art, science, storytelling and the environment. His research seeks to inspire agency, interdisciplinary imagination, discovery and social change addressing global issues facing our natural world. Find out more at davelynch.net.


Project partners: Immersive Networks Collective, CalibuYau, Reflex Arc, Centre for Immersive Technologies (University of Leeds) Cultural Institute (University of Leeds), Bradford Institute For Health Research, Green Mount Studios, XR Stories (Creative Cluster).

The post Born in Bradford: Immersive VR appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Watch: Creative Resilience in a Time of Crisis https://audienceofthefuture.live/2021/03/creative-resilience-in-a-time-of-crisis/ Tue, 16 Mar 2021 10:13:25 +0000 https://audienceofthefuture.live/?p=4296 2020 seemed to hold so much promise, but things didn’t quite turn out the way everyone was expecting. Across the Creative Industries the best laid plans were undone by Covid-19. For the UK’s brilliant creators, makers, producers and researchers the immediate impact was immense. The shock of the pandemic, the disruption, the lockdowns, the fear […]

The post Watch: Creative Resilience in a Time of Crisis appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
2020 seemed to hold so much promise, but things didn’t quite turn out the way everyone was expecting. Across the Creative Industries the best laid plans were undone by Covid-19. For the UK’s brilliant creators, makers, producers and researchers the immediate impact was immense.

The shock of the pandemic, the disruption, the lockdowns, the fear and the isolation took us all on personal and professional journeys no one could have imagined.

This brand new video tells the story of some of the projects supported by Audience of the Future and Creative Industries Clusters Programme as they faced these challenges using art, technology, passion and creativity.

UK House | 16 – 19 March 2021

Hear from the creators behind the cutting-edge projects featured in this video at UK House, from Tuesday 16 to Friday 19 March 2021, with a schedule including panels, live Q&A, presentations, workshops, showcases, demos and lots more.

Supported by UKRI and running alongside this year’s SXSW online, UK House celebrates the best of UK advertising, art, immersive technology, music and innovation. A programme of live and virtual events includes Audience of the Future Live, to feature the ground-breaking R&D projects from the Audience of the Future and Creative Industries Clusters programmes.

REGISTER FOR FREE to watch the live playout of this video (Thurs 18 March, 1.30-2.00pm), join the discussion on the event platform and connect with the many thinkers and makers around the world coming together at UK House to meet and hear from leading creative industry experts.

The post Watch: Creative Resilience in a Time of Crisis appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Celebrating Women in the UK Creative Industries @ UK House https://audienceofthefuture.live/2021/03/celebrating-women-in-the-uk-creative-industries-uk-house/ Mon, 08 Mar 2021 13:06:16 +0000 https://audienceofthefuture.live/?p=3673 Next week’s UK House (16 -19 March), running alongside SXSW, showcases the best of UK advertising, art, tech, immersive technology, music and innovation. But there wouldn’t be such a celebration without so many strong, inspirational and influential women within the creative industries. The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘Choose To Challenge‘, encouraging […]

The post Celebrating Women in the UK Creative Industries @ UK House appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Next week’s UK House (16 -19 March), running alongside SXSW, showcases the best of UK advertising, art, tech, immersive technology, music and innovation. But there wouldn’t be such a celebration without so many strong, inspirational and influential women within the creative industries.

The campaign theme for International Women’s Day 2021 is ‘Choose To Challenge‘, encouraging that ‘We can all choose to challenge and call out gender bias and inequality. We can all choose to seek out and celebrate women’s achievements. Collectively, we can all help create an inclusive world. From challenge comes change, so let’s all choose to challenge.’

Audience of the Future Live @ UK House

In celebration of the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, it’s a pleasure to welcome so many women (almost half of the line up) to the Audience of the Future programme at UK House. Testament to the incredible talent, creativity and contribution these amazing women bring to the creative industries, providing an inspiration to all and helping to shape a more balanced and challenged industry for positive and lasting change.

Don’t miss the following fantastic women who will be sharing their thoughts, ideas and experiences at the UK House 2021 (16-19 March) from organisations including Royal Opera House, SPATIALx, Nesta, IPA, Away To Mars, Royal Shakespeare Company and so many more:

UK House Programme

In addition to the Audience of the Future line up, the UK House offers a jam-packed programme of sessions featuring many more notable women speakers and contributors. To note, the CreativeXR: 60 Prototypes On panel (Weds 17 March, 12pm) is moderated by Liz Rosenthal, Executive Producer of CreativeXR and Curator of Venice Biennale’s International Film Festival’s Official Selection and Competition programme Venice VR.

Liz is joined by the very talented and inspirational panelists including Maddalena Crosti (Digital Catapult), May Abdalla (Anagram) and Gaelle Mourre, a Writer, Director of VR series (Hi)story of a Painting as 1 of 10 projects in competition in the SXSW Virtual Cinema Programme and Producer at Fat Red Bird. Tune in to hear from creators from all three cohorts of CreativeXR, as the full panel discusses their development processes, explore what future projects might need in order to finish and distribute successfully, and reflect on how the immersive UK landscape has changed.

About UK House (16-19 March 2021)

In a year of absolute disruption, UK House considers what we’ve learnt about the adoption of new and emerging technologies and audiences across the creative industries, and how it’s influencing future developments around the globe.

Register to attend for discussion panels, networking and incredible live music to celebrate the best of UK Creativity. It is free to attend for thinkers, makers, and investors around the world to meet and hear from leading UK experts.

The post Celebrating Women in the UK Creative Industries @ UK House appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Royal Shakespeare Company Opens ‘Dream’ https://audienceofthefuture.live/2021/02/royal-shakespeare-company-opens-dream/ Thu, 25 Feb 2021 11:44:26 +0000 https://audienceofthefuture.live/?p=1804 Live performance and gaming technology come together for Dream, an Audience of the Future Demonstrator project from the Royal Shakespeare Company, combining live performance and gaming technology to explore the future for audiences and live theatre. The project is one of four Audience of the Future Demonstrator projects, supported by the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge […]

The post Royal Shakespeare Company Opens ‘Dream’ appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Live performance and gaming technology come together for Dream, an Audience of the Future Demonstrator project from the Royal Shakespeare Company, combining live performance and gaming technology to explore the future for audiences and live theatre.

The project is one of four Audience of the Future Demonstrator projects, supported by the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund which is delivered by UK Research and Innovation.

Dream – live, online performance set in a virtual midsummer forest
➤ Performance: Friday 12 March – Saturday 20 March 2021
➤ Booking: Tickets available from today at dream.online

The Royal Shakespeare Company, in collaboration with Manchester International Festival, Marshmallow Laser Feast and Philharmonia Orchestra will stage a live performance of Dream using motion capture as the culmination of a major piece of cutting-edge research and development.

This pioneering collaboration explores how audiences could experience live performance in the future. Dream was due to open in Spring 2020 as an in person and online live performance and has been recreated during the pandemic for online audiences whilst theatres remain closed.

Inspired by Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, the project combines theatre, music and groundbreaking technology in an extraordinary exploration into the future of live performance.

Set in a virtual midsummer forest, under the shadow of gathering clouds at dusk, lit by the glimmer of fireflies, Puck acts as the guide. Audiences are invited to explore the forest from the canopy of the trees to the roots, meet the sprites, Cobweb, Mustardseed, Peaseblossom and Moth, and take an extraordinary journey into the eye of a cataclysmic storm. Together with Puck they must regrow the forest before the dawn. When day breaks, the spell breaks.

The 50-minute online event will be a shared experience between remote audience members and the seven actors who play Puck and the sprites. Audiences can choose to buy a £10 ticket to take part and at key points in the play directly influence the world of the actors, or to view the performance for free. The ten Dream performances are scheduled so that audiences across the world can join the event.

Highly anticipated, the online performance has attracted a lot of press attention, with articles in The Guardian, BBC, The Telegraph and more…

The post Royal Shakespeare Company Opens ‘Dream’ appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Showcasing UK Creative Industries Innovation https://audienceofthefuture.live/2021/02/showcasing-uk-creative-industries-innovation/ Thu, 25 Feb 2021 11:24:55 +0000 https://audienceofthefuture.live/?p=1799 As part of this year’s official SXSW programme, a series of activities will profile projects from across UKRI funded challenges, supporting the growth and innovation within the UK creative industries. In addition and running alongside this year’s SXSW, a virtual UK House will offer a deeper dive into the exciting innovation coming out of the […]

The post Showcasing UK Creative Industries Innovation appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
As part of this year’s official SXSW programme, a series of activities will profile projects from across UKRI funded challenges, supporting the growth and innovation within the UK creative industries.

In addition and running alongside this year’s SXSW, a virtual UK House will offer a deeper dive into the exciting innovation coming out of the UKRI Creative Industries Clusters, Audience of the Future and wider challenge programmes, supporting growth and innovation across the UK creative industries.

Read on for an overview of activities confirmed so far and register to attend UK House (16 – 19 March).

SXSW 2021 Official Programme Event

It’s very exciting to represent the cutting-edge work coming from UK creative organisations as part of the official SXSW programme. Don’t miss the following activities open to all SXSW ticket-holders:

SXSW Official Event

As part of the official SXSW Partner programme, this one hour event will feature a line up of renowned industry names to explore creative collaboration and UK investment opportunities across the globe, with a live audience Q&A.

SXSW Creative Industries Exhibition Expo Booth

A range of cutting-edge projects will be showcased in the Audience of the Future Live Expo booth as part of the Creative Industries Exhibition @ SXSW, with work featured from across the Audience of the Future, Creative Industries Clusters and wider challenge programmes. Don’t miss showreels, demos and information on lots of exciting projects from talent across the UK creative industries.

Virtual UK House

In addition to the official SXSW line-up detailed above, UKRI is collaborating with partners including the Future Art & Culture Programme from Arts Council & British Underground, British Council, Department for International Trade, UK Advertising Export Group, Audience of the Future Live and more, on a programme of fringe activities between 16 – 19 March at a new virtual UK House. Free to attend – the virtual UK House will celebrate the best of UK creativity, with a series of live events, short talks, panel discussions, workshops, exhibitions and experimental music sessions over 4 days.

The Audience of the Future Live programme at UK House will showcase a selection of projects from the UKRI-funded Creative Industries Clusters and Audience of the Future challenge programmes. The schedule includes Meet the Makers and Researchers sessions, providing delegates with the opportunity to hear first-hand from the creative talent behind the projects. A programme of play-outs from across the UKRI funded projects will also feature, including ScanLab’s FRAMERATE and ‘Current, Rising’ from Royal Opera House, together with plenty more.

The UK House showcases the best of UK advertising, art, tech, immersive technology, music and innovation. In a year of absolute disruption, UK House considers what we have learnt about the adoption of new and emerging technologies and how it’s influencing future developments for UK creativity.

Thinkers, makers and investors from around the world are welcome at the UK House, to meet and hear from leading UK experts.

Register for UK House (it’s Free!)

More details and registration to attend UK House can be found here. Or click the ‘Book Now’ button on this page to go straight to the registration page. For more details on all of the above, check out the Audience of the Future Live schedule section of this site, along with information at theukhouse.com.

Main photo by Stephen Olker

All news

The post Showcasing UK Creative Industries Innovation appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Covid Diaries Capture Innovation in the UK Creative Industries https://audienceofthefuture.live/2021/02/covid-diaries-uk-innovation-creative-industries-pivot/ Tue, 23 Feb 2021 11:00:00 +0000 https://audienceofthefuture.live/?p=2169 During the Covid-19 lockdown period in the second quarter of 2020, existing Audience of the Future Challenge award-holders continued to develop projects, albeit within the limits presented by lockdown. These projects include Dinosaurs and Robots, a mixed reality experience led by Factory 42 and originally created for London’s Natural History Museum and Science Museum; Dream, […]

The post Covid Diaries Capture Innovation in the UK Creative Industries appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
During the Covid-19 lockdown period in the second quarter of 2020, existing Audience of the Future Challenge award-holders continued to develop projects, albeit within the limits presented by lockdown.

These projects include Dinosaurs and Robots, a mixed reality experience led by Factory 42 and originally created for London’s Natural History Museum and Science Museum; Dream, a live, online performance set in a virtual midsummer forest by the Royal Shakespeare Company and partners; 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.

In this Covid-19 video diary series, hear about the creativity and experience that the teams went through in order to pivot their projects. They had to find new ways to work, adjust their projects around the obstacles presented, and not least, consider how their projects might work in a post-Covid world. 

To create the series, the demonstrator project teams were asked to record their progress as ‘video diaries’ explaining how they adjusted their projects to comply with Covid 19 restrictions. Part one of a three part series, the following video diaries are available to watch now:

THE COVID DIARIES – PART ONE: Dinosaurs and Robots

Part one of a three part video diary series from Factory 42, featuring John Cassy (Founder of Factory 42) talking about how the Dinosaurs and Robots project pivoted due to Covid-19. Watch the video diary.

THE COVID DIARIES – PART ONE: Fictioneers ‘Wallace & Gromit: The Big Fix Up’

Hear from Fictioneers in this video diary, featuring Susan Cumming’s (Co-Founder), Jamies Innes (Creative Product Lead) and Richard Saggers (COO), on how the Wallace & Gromit: The Big Fix Up project pivoted due to Covid-19. Watch the video diary.

THE COVID DIARIES – PART ONE: Weavr

This is part one of a three part video diary series from Weavr, featuring Florian Block (R&D Director) at technology platform Weavr, sharing how the Esports platform project pivoted due to Covid-19. Watch the video diary.

Combined, the Audience of the Future challenge projects, funded by UK Research and Innovation, represent the most advanced set of public trials of Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Reality content anywhere in the world. Since the pandemic, the projects have been reimagined and redeveloped for audiences in the UK and internationally. Stay tuned for more video diaries coming soon – sign up for updates.

The post Covid Diaries Capture Innovation in the UK Creative Industries appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Case study series reveals innovation in UK creative industry projects https://audienceofthefuture.live/2021/02/case-study-series-innovation-uk-creative-industries/ Tue, 23 Feb 2021 10:42:00 +0000 https://audienceofthefuture.live/?p=2162 As part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, the Audience of the Future programme, funded by UK Research and Innovation, has enabled the development of a number of innovative and ground-breaking projects across the creative industries.  Revealing the highlights, developments and exciting achievements the funding has led to, this series of case study articles unveils the […]

The post Case study series reveals innovation in UK creative industry projects appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
As part of the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, the Audience of the Future programme, funded by UK Research and Innovation, has enabled the development of a number of innovative and ground-breaking projects across the creative industries. 

Revealing the highlights, developments and exciting achievements the funding has led to, this series of case study articles unveils the secrets behind projects including the exciting projects below. Published so far:

Framestore: better animation, faster

Framestore’s VFX supervisor Theo Jones explains how they created FIRA, their Bafta and Oscar-award winning Fast Immersive Rigging and Animation toolset that enhances and accelerates the production of character animation, reducing time and costs. Read full case study.

Generic Robotics: in touch with the future

Technology company Generic Robotics helped to accelerate the use of touch-based – or haptic – tools in the creative industries. Its chief executive, Alistair Barrow, explains more about bringing what he calls ‘the forgotten sense’ into the digital world.. Read full case study.

Mativision: Live from your laptop

Mativision feasibility study reveals more about the way in which audiences engage with live immersive music and entertainment experiences. Founder and chief executive Anthony Karydis and experience designer Athina Metridou explains more. Read full case study.

Figment Productions: Hyper Reality Made Real

Award-winning Figment Productions is on a mission to create premium immersive experiences using ‘hyper reality’. The team has developed new tools and practices that can help creative teams collaborate better, wherever they are in the world. Owner Simon Reveley reveals more. Read full case study.

Stay tuned for more case studies coming soon – sign up for updates.

The post Case study series reveals innovation in UK creative industry projects appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Figment Productions: Hyper Reality Made Real https://audienceofthefuture.live/2021/02/figment-productions-hyper-reality-made-real/ Tue, 23 Feb 2021 10:36:00 +0000 https://audienceofthefuture.live/?p=2159 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 […]

The post Figment Productions: Hyper Reality Made Real appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
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.

Current Rising – Scene Sketch 1 from Current, Rising (ROH) by Joanna Scotcher

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.

What challenges has the idea faced?

Originally, Figment planned to invent new ways of integrating established VR toolsets alongside working processes to help create and demonstrate new hyper reality content. But it soon became clear that some basic challenges had to be overcome first. For example, figuring out how creative teams can collaborate successfully, even when they are geographically dispersed.

Plenty of generic team collaboration tools are available these days but there are none meeting the needs of a creative production of this type. So Figment was granted a project change request to develop new tools that allow production creatives to work smoothly on a project that is inherently meant to be worked on in the same physical space.

A good example of this, is that the project team uses affordable, portable Oculus Quest headsets to develop the show whereas ROH visitors would be experiencing it wearing a headset connected to a backpack that contains a high-end graphics computer. This creates a big difference in graphics quality; developers are not seeing the same quality images that the audience would eventually see. To address this, Figment has built new features into its remote collaboration tool that allow the computer graphics team to show frames of work at the higher quality on the lower-powered Oculus Quest. The Figment team has also developed and integrated tools that allow anyone working collaboratively to pick up and reposition virtual speakers so that everyone in the virtual environment can hear the impact on spatial sound.

What impact has COVID-19 had on the project?

The project was about halfway through development when the pandemic struck. Like many in the creative industries, Figment Productions was hit hard, with commercial projects postponed or cancelled. This meant it was difficult for Figment to continue match-funding the project.

So, the team applied for – and won – a COVID-19 continuity grant from Innovate UK, which helped address the funding gap [Audience of the Future also granted an extension to the project’s deadline]. Figment built and self-funded the original platform two years ago, but hardware updates and system refinements are needed to make it ready for public use. The new funding has helped Figment redevelop the underlying technology platform needed to deliver the ROH demonstration.

Virtual-reality headsets and goggles will transport the audience into the ‘multi-sensory’ opera Current, Rising

What stage is the project at now?

Together, Figment and the ROH have been developing an original opera that will be staged in the ROH’s Linbury Theatre, with the audience moving through in groups of four. The demonstration will form the centrepiece of ROH’s plans for socially-distanced reopening, depending on UK government guidelines of course.

At the time of writing the demonstration, planned for November 2020, had been interrupted by the second national lockdown. But when the demonstration goes ahead, then Royal Holloway will conduct audience insight research on behalf of the project team.

Figment Productions will also use the live experience to test its production methodology and tools, identify gaps in its understanding and then make adaptations and refinements after the demonstration has finished.

What is the business model for the project?

It is too early to say. But early on in the project, Figment created academic computer models to better understand the commercial model of a hyper reality experience. Parameters included number, frequency and movement of visitors, size of physical space and cost of equipment. The modelling identified an optimum physical footprint for greatest commercial opportunity.

Once the live ROH event is complete Figment will work with Royal Holloway again to assess the business case, with options including a standalone commercial product to put on sale to other creative teams – an internal tool to help us win future work and open source sharing.

In the meantime, StoryFutures has expressed an interest in Figment’s remote collaboration tools and are pitching for new international work that would directly benefit from using the new tools. In fact, the new tools developed with this funding could help them win major new contracts around the world.

The post Figment Productions: Hyper Reality Made Real appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Mativision: Live from your laptop https://audienceofthefuture.live/2021/02/mativision-live-from-your-laptop/ Tue, 23 Feb 2021 10:27:00 +0000 https://audienceofthefuture.live/?p=2156 Award-winning immersive media production company Mativision conducted a wide-ranging feasibility study to learn more about the way in which audiences engage with live immersive music and entertainment experiences. Mativision’s founder and chief executive Anthony Karydis and experience designer Athina Metridou explained to us what was involved and what they learned. What’s the big idea? Most […]

The post Mativision: Live from your laptop appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
Award-winning immersive media production company Mativision conducted a wide-ranging feasibility study to learn more about the way in which audiences engage with live immersive music and entertainment experiences. Mativision’s founder and chief executive Anthony Karydis and experience designer Athina Metridou explained to us what was involved and what they learned.

What’s the big idea?

Most live immersive entertainment events have to date followed broadcast television formats, using techniques like multiple camera angles to help audiences feel present within the experience. But despite making great technical leaps forward, live immersive experiences haven’t gained the big audience numbers anticipated. There is likely to be untapped potential to really enhance the audience experience of these events.

Having worked for more than a decade creating live immersive experiences for major entertainment shows (e.g. American Idol and the MTV European Music Awards), Mativision wanted to find out what users want from immersive experiences and how these needs can be met. So they created a feasibility study called Project LIME (short for live immersive music experiences) researching the ways in which live immersive performances are viewed and distributed. Project LIME also studied audience expectations, perceptions and behaviours when engaging with immersive technology.

Who was the study aimed at?

As well as informing their own immersive entertainment work, Mativision’s research aimed to find insights for creative companies and professionals working in immersive entertainment to help make more engaging content, and potentially find new revenue streams as well.

How has Audience of the Future supported the project?

Project LIME cost just over £59,000. Of that, Mativision funded 30% of the costs and Audience of the Future’s Design Foundations Challenge provided the other 70% (£41,374).

How was the study run?

After carrying out a review of existing literature on immersive technology, Mativision created an online survey supported by several immersive content prototypes. These were VR-based but watchable via other devices, such as smartphones. The prototypes showcased a variety of ways to present content to audiences. For example, one allowed viewers the option to either switch between multiple cameras at different locations, or watch an edited stream from these cameras. Another prototype offered different levels of social networking.

The team used these prototypes to evaluate the impact and preferences of those surveyed. The questionnaire tested everything from prior experience of immersive technologies to preferred viewpoints during live performances. It asked participants to rank preferences for additional features, such as performance close ups, lyrics on screen, virtual fireworks, and asked whether they wanted enhanced social interaction during the event. More than 200 people took part – some digitally, some during one-to-one meetings and informal workshops. Many participants were drawn from Mativision’s network of partners and customers.

As well as using the responses to develop a final Project LIME demo, Mativision summarised its work and findings in a report. This was shared with both the Audience of the Future Challenge team and immersive industry organisations (Immerse UK, Innovate UK, Digital Catapult). The report then formed the basis of workshop and conference presentations in the UK and internationally.

What did Mativision learn from Project LIME?

Project LIME’s key discovery was that audiences remain focused on the event itself, rather than additional features. Their ultimate goal remains to reserve the best ‘seats’ in the house and view high quality content.

Socialisation and gamifying the experience isn’t a priority. This is a key finding as the industry’s roots lie in immersive gaming where socialisation is critical. While a gamer likes to get involved and interact with others, audiences who watch an event – be it a live music performance or sporting event – do not currently feel the same way.

Audiences are keen to use immersive and interactive technologies for live events, but limited experience with immersive technologies creates a paradoxical situation, in which they are both reluctant to use the technology and yet have excessively high expectations of the experience. Design matters more than ever to help audiences adapt comfortably to the growing world of immersive experiences.

What has happened since Project LIME ended?

As a consequence of presenting the Project LIME findings to potential business partners and industry stakeholders, Mativision has started to develop new ventures. For example, working with leading UK recording facility Metropolis Studios, Mativision has built a content distribution platform that delivers specialist skills training to audio professionals and that uses immersive experiences to do so, a project guided by LIME findings. A second partnership with SNFCC, the biggest Cultural Centre in Greece, has also applied research findings in a number of projects.

Guided by the LIME work, the Mativision team have redeveloped their bespoke VR content delivery system (or ’VLIPP’). LIME findings indicated that, while happy to have the ability to select camera locations, viewers eventually prefer to ‘settle down’ and watch the show itself. The main adaptation added to VLIPP is the Director’s Cut option. This allows a viewer to watch an edited stream of any event, but, at any point, take control and start selecting cameras if they want.

Project LIME also found that musicians are interested in being able to rehearse and perform together virtually. What’s more, audiences are interested in combining performances that are happening in different places into one experience. Mativision developed these ideas and presented them to Digital Catapult, proposing a 5G Festival. This is now in development, with £3.5 million in funding from the UK’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. Mativision will be using its £350,000 share of the budget to develop remote performance in an immersive, augmented reality-supported environment (for musicians), as well as looking at ways in which a physical event with a live audience can connect with artists located in other cities or countries.

The post Mativision: Live from your laptop appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
THE COVID DIARIES – PART ONE: Weavr https://audienceofthefuture.live/2020/11/the-covid-diaries-part-one-weavr-esports-platform/ Thu, 26 Nov 2020 16:49:34 +0000 https://audienceofthefuture.live/?p=603 During the Covid-19 lockdown period in the second quarter of 2020, existing Audience of the Future Challenge award-holders have continued to develop projects, albeit within the limits presented by lockdown. Project teams have had to find new ways to work, adjust their projects around the obstacles presented, and not least, consider how their projects might […]

The post THE COVID DIARIES – PART ONE: Weavr appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>
During the Covid-19 lockdown period in the second quarter of 2020, existing Audience of the Future Challenge award-holders have continued to develop projects, albeit within the limits presented by lockdown.

Project teams have had to find new ways to work, adjust their projects around the obstacles presented, and not least, consider how their projects might work in a post-Covid world. All of the demonstrator project teams were asked to record their progress as ‘video diaries’ explaining how they adjusted their projects to comply with Covid 19 restrictions.

This is part one of a three part video diary series from Weavr, featuring Florian Block (R&D Director) at technology platform Weavr, sharing how the Esports platform project pivoted due to Covid-19.

The impact on some stakeholders’ work is significant, on others less so, and for some it may present a provocative new opportunity.

This video diary is part of a project that will consist of a 3 part visual diary filmed and recorded over the course of the next year with each of the four Audience of the Future demonstrators, to document their journeys and how they have pivoted their projects to meet the new challenges brought about by the impact of Covid19.

Read more about the Weavr platform here: https://audienceofthefuture.live/weavr/

All video diaries in this series can be seen in The Covid Diaries playlist on YouTube.

The post THE COVID DIARIES – PART ONE: Weavr appeared first on Audience of the Future Live.

]]>