Sydney poised to be new virtual reality hub

SYDNEY is developing as an early centre of excellence for virtual reality, experts say.

IMMERSIVE brand experiences are moving quickly into virtual reality with the rapid democratisation of the medium and Sydney is developing as an early centre of excellence.

But for this year at least, brands are more likely to put virtual reality goggles in users’ hands with live demonstrations while the technology makes its way into consumers’ homes, with gamers the most likely early adopters.

Ben X Tan and Sean Gardner from Digital Arts Network TBWA in Sydney, presented its virtual reality work for NRMA Insurance at the SXSW interactive festival in Austin, Texas this week.

Also this week Leo Burnett launched an ad in which it enabled a fly-in-fly-out worker to experience the birth of his child through the power of Samsung’s Gear virtual reality technology.

The development of the nascent virtual reality entertainment and media industry has been a major theme at SXSW this year.

Samsung has broken new ground by putting an affordable early version of its Gear VR goggles -- which simply need a late-model Samsung smartphone plugged into them to deliver a convincing virtual reality experience -- in consumers’ hands.

Better versions are expected to launch later this year from specialist players such as Oculus Rift.

“My vision for the future is eventually everyone will have one,” Tan said. “Augmented reality died. This is different.”

“I think it will be quite mainstream,” Gardner said. “In terms of brand experiences it’s only limited by your imagination.”

Gardner predicted virtual reality technology would be used for anything from creating meditative experiences to showcasing tourism experiences.

It could lead to the renewal of the horror film genre by effectively injecting the viewer into the scene.

“You’re trying to get someone to feel something,” DAN creative director Russ Tucker said. “You feel more than you would watching an ad.”

“Entertainment and gaming are the natural applications for it but I think brands will get into creating brand experiences.”

Sydney production company Rapid Films is one of a handful of Australian production companies to establish a virtual reality production division, Rapid VR.

Technology director Dan White said Sydney was developing as an early centre of excellence for virtual reality.

“No one knows how it should be done,” he said. “It’s been quite fascinating to see that as we’re figuring out our processes in Sydney, people on the other side of the world have been doing a lot of the same things.

“Sydney is really emerging as a VR technology centre.”

Rapid VR has created virtual reality experiences for a number of brands including Samsung, for which it created a virtual reality shark diving experience in which a shark eats the camera and the viewer can examine the shark’s innards.

“It was the best thing that could have happened,” White said, although he added the shark soon spat out the camera, and no animals were harmed in the making of the film.

In another VR experience for Thredbo, the viewer finds themselves on the ski slopes with Torah Bright.

“It allows you to experience things you would never experience in real life,” White said.

Lara Sinclair travelled to Austin as a guest of Marketo