Entertainment Leaders Team Up for Immersive Storytelling
The makers of the Oscar-winning 'Wallace & Gromit' animation franchise and the TV hit, 'Peaky Blinders', are joining ambitious government-backed projects to develop next generation entertainment experiences.
Aardman, which makes Wallace & Gromit, is working with developers Tiny Rebel Games, digital specialists Potato, creative agency Sugar Creative and the University of South Wales.
The consortium will benefit from a £4 million investment to develop immersive storytelling experiences based on the Aardman characters, enabling people to feel part of the action.
Another project is a new virtual reality drama game based on BAFTA-award winning 'Peaky Blinders' using Artificial Intelligence. Launching in 2020, it will mean that characters will respond according to the players’ gestures, movement, voice, sound and body language. The project is being led by London-based immersive VR studio, Maze Theory.
Through its Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, the government is investing £33 million into an Audience of the Future Challenge to ensure the UK’s immersive technology sector remains at the vanguard of developments and creates highly-skilled jobs.
It is also working with industry to implement the broader Creative Industries Sector Deal announced in partnership with the Creative Industries Council last year. (Read more about the CIC and its recently refreshed membership here).
Aardman and the consortium are behind one of the 21 projects benefiting from government investment.
Funding is being made available through the Audience of the Future programme which aims to bring creative businesses, researchers and technology experts together to create striking new experiences that captivate the public. Those funded through the challenge will adopt, exploit and develop immersive technologies to create new products and services.
Other projects that the government is investing in include:
- Improving theatre experiences for a more diverse audience, including personalised sign-language displays for British Sign Language (BSL) users, translation captions for non-English speakers and audio descriptions for visually impaired people. The project led by the National Theatre will research the technical and production means to deliver these initiatives to improve accessibility.
- Making it possible for people to meet their heroes, with personalised storytelling and conversation through virtual reality. Forever Holdings will bring together a research group to transform these immersive encounters, by improving filming techniques and boosting voice interaction.
- Offering businesses immersive learning solutions for employees where they can use virtual and mixed reality headsets to learn at their own pace and repeat tasks as often as required. Holohub would make this platform available to businesses for them to distribute it to staff and track performance.
The Creative Industries Council (CIC) is also welcoming eight new members as part of a review to ensure the Council is fully representative of the UK’s world leading Creative Industries.
New members include Alex Mahon (Channel 4), Kanya King (MOBO), Debbie Bestwick (Team 17), Annette King (Publicis UK), Stephen Page (Faber and Faber), Lee Brooks (Production Park), Michael Dugher (UK Music), and Andrew Thompson (AHRC).
The announcement comes on World Intellectual Property Day which celebrates IP rich industries in economies around the world.
The Creative Industries Council (CIC) is also welcoming eight new members as part of a review to ensure the Council is fully representative of the UK’s world leading Creative Industries.
New members include Alex Mahon (Channel 4), Kanya King (MOBO), Debbie Bestwick (Team 17), Annette King (Publicis UK), Stephen Page (Faber and Faber), Lee Brooks (Production Park), Michael Dugher (UK Music), and Andrew Thompson (AHRC).
Read the full Government release.
Membership and minutes from the Creative Industries Council
Related:
Immersive projects win funding
£20m investment in diversity and talent
