For the past two years I’ve been exploring the VR industry and its technology to see how this might affect the future of video production. The past decade has seen online video rise from a luxury item to a ubiquitous marketing tool the absence of which is treated with suspicion. It has become a powerful training tool often distributed for free. It allows businesses to communicate and spread information and morale throughout an organisation. VR and related technologies have the potential to take all this to a new level.
New media and promotional video production
It is likely that the media production of the future will combine many different forms and ways of consuming different media and tailored to different needs. Video, text, animation and photography are easily consumed whilst still carrying information and emotional impact. The full i immersive Ness of VR and 360 video can be highly impactful producing empathy in the viewer though maybe too overwhelming for many uses. MR and AR in not completely removing the viewer from outside reality give a more manageable experience for many applications. Future headsets are likely to switch between different types of experience.
The UK by all accounts appears to be lagging behind other tech leading countries in its corporate adoption of virtual reality. Funding for UK based projects is also behind. New VR orientated trade shows such as the virtual reality show at London’s business design centre and VR World at Olympia will hopefully address this. These tradeshows are a place for people in VR related industries to meet up and share ideas and for businesses and individuals to learn and try out the technology.
Promotional video in VR
My interest in virtual reality started from 360 video. As a video producer this clearly had some business interest. Over the past couple of years of exploration I’ve found the industry to have an exciting freshness that I can imagine was around at the birth of the film industry. My past decade of work has centred around video production for marketing and training. This has certainly been the era of online video and the promotional video is one of the most powerful marketing tools. The future of marketing and communication looks likely to include more immersive experiences though whether promo VR proves as ubiquitous as promo videos is yet to be seen.
My conversations and interviews at VR events show an industry that is vibrant and eager to learn. the methods and best practices are being worked out by trial and error. At present the different forms of immersive media are shown under one umbrella though the next few years will likely see them settle into distinct genres. This is driven by both the technology and the content.
The future of AR, VR and 360 video
