The Year of Virtual Experiences
The past year has without a doubt, been a tumultuous one for the entertainment industry; the demand for content is at an all time high but productions remain heavily affected by the pandemic and there is a worrisome backlog of content to contend with. While the extraordinary circumstances of the past few years have brought unforeseen difficulties to us all, the ingenuity of creators within the space shined through, with mixed-reality performances, digital doubles, and outstanding visual effects occupying the spaces left vacant from live programming. Despite the limitations, 2021 was a busy and dynamic year for us at Animatrik - we were involved in a variety of projects, ranging from virtual concerts to game engine demos.
Immersive Concerts in the Metaverse
Virtual concerts and mixed reality performances are nothing new but have undoubtedly risen in popularity during the pandemic. They might have started out as clever replacements for live events but they’ve grown into their own unique niche during these past months and they are definitely here to stay. From curious gimmick, to a new way to experience entertainment in its own right, creative execution of mixed - and virtual - reality has left us yearning to see more.
Here at Animatrik, we were excited to be a part of this renewed wave of virtual experiences. We worked on the immersive virtual concert celebrating Pentakill’s newest album within the League of Legends universe in partnership with Wave XR and Riot Games. Then in November, we had the opportunity to flex our real-time motion capture muscles for Justin Bieber’s interactive virtual concert experience. Using cutting-edge technology, the team at Animatrik was able to directly translate the performance capture to Bieber’s CG avatar on the virtual stage.
The future is hybrid in more ways than one - while we very much look forward to enjoying music live again, their virtual counterparts will continue to be instrumental to both in-game experiences, as in Fortnite or League of Legends, and in increasing accessibility for the general public. We might see a future where sold-out shows can also be enjoyed by fans tuning in via live streaming from all over the world, as well as wholly virtual performances in the digital space of what might become the metaverse.
New ways of storytelling - the power of game engines
As technology is evolving, the limits on what can be achieved digitally with motion capture and VFX are starting to disappear. The creative freedom allowed by this evolution of the craft is transforming not only film-making but also game development. We’re seeing an increasing amalgamation of the film and game industries when it comes down to content creation: there are now films created in game engines and games that have a cinematic quality to them.
Nothing demonstrates this convergence more than the Matrix Awakens: An Unreal Engine 5 Experience which took the industry by storm. Heralded as the next generation of gaming experience, it is meant to showcase just how far we’ve come in terms of creating hyper-realistic environments and people. We were beyond excited to be part of this project and take charge of the motion capture sessions for the demo. Animatrik’s state-of-the-art studio was readily equipped to take on this ambitious concept and work with Epic Games to make it into an (un)reality.
The rising popularity of virtual and mixed-reality performances shows no sign of hitting the brakes, just like the evolution of the tech that powers it. As we’re entering this new era of interactive digital experiences, it will be interesting to see how storytelling evolves to match that. An open virtual world, where the audience is no longer passive, poses its own set of challenges for narrative building, as well as a whole new horizon of possibilities.