Location-based virtual reality (VR) specialist Immotion Group has brought its technology to a number of locations across the UK, including Birmingham’s Star City and Weston-super-Mare’s Grand Pier. This week, the company has announced a new VR experience coming to its centre’s, Swimming with Humpbacks.
An immersive live-action title, Swimming with Humpbacks provides a rare glimpse and insight into one of the ocean’s most mysterious creatures, the giant Humpback whale. The first instalment in Immotion’s Blue Ocean Aquarium series, cinematographer Jeff Hester was brought in to film the whales as they migrated from Antartica to the Kingdom of Tonga during mating season.
“At Immotion, we are always looking to push the boundaries of VR. What we’ve managed to capture is truly breath-taking. The film provides an incredible insight into these elusive creatures,” said Martin Higginson, CEO of Immotion Group in a statement. “The experience makes full use of the visual, sound and motion capabilities of our VR Cinematic motion pods to deliver our customers something ground-breaking and memorable. We are excited about future instalments of our Blue Ocean Aquarium series, and demonstrating the power of VR to engage and thrill audiences.”
“This is a truly remarkable achievement to get so near to such a magnificent and endangered species. One of the great challenges was that our cinematographer, Jeff Hester, couldn’t scuba dive around the whales as the bubbles it generated would have disturbed them,” adds Ian Liddell, Immotion’s Group Creative Director. “He had to hold his breath for up to four minutes at a time while keeping up with the whales. Each whale can weigh 40 tonnes and move at speeds of 15mph. “At certain points, our camera is just three inches away from the whales’ pectoral fins. From seeing them show dominance by rolling over and flapping their fins, a mother bonding with her calf, to the young whales gaining their independence – we’ve captured it all.”
Exclusively available on Immotion’s VR Cinematic motion pods across the UK, in the near future Swimming with Humpbacks will be available to the public at home through PlayStation VR, as well as iOS and Android. For further updates, keep reading VRFocus.
via Mint VR