BBC Announces VR Push

LONDON: BBC has unveiled plans for its move into the virtual reality space, posting several in-the-works projects to the experimental-ideas platform BBC Taster.

Andy Conroy, the controller of BBC research and development, listed these projects in a detailed blog post that aimed to explain why VR “is an important technology for the BBC to explore.”

According to Conroy, the BBC R&D and Aardman Studios co-production We Wait is currently available on BBC Taster. The project, which was built for the Oculus Rift VR headset, uses the real stories of refugees as the basis for an animated virtual experience. Another Oculus launch is Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel, co-developed with BBC Learning, Crossover Labs and VRTOV.

Conroy said the title is a “groundbreaking new form of history documentary making, exploring how VR might create a completely new way for people to engage with the past—by living through a protagonist’s memories and perceiving events from their perspective.”

Other experiments set to roll out soon are Home: A VR Spacewalk, developed between BBC Science, BBC Learning, BBC Digital Storytelling and Rewind for the HTC Vive VR headset; and The Turning Forest, a fairy tale created with VRTOV.

Additionally, BBC announced two 360-degree ventures now available on BBC Taster: Rome’s Invisible City VR, which takes audiences on a tour of Rome’s Pantheon; and Trooping the Colour, a “Queen’s eye view” of what the British monarch will see as part of her 90th birthday celebrations. Both projects were built for viewing in a web browser, or through smartphone VR headsets like Google Cardboard.

“Truly interactive VR video is in its infancy and can be expensive to create, but total or partial animation or CGI can be used very effectively and efficiently, while other production techniques may yet emerge or become more accessible over time,” Conroy wrote. “All of our true VR experiments seek to address different challenges that will provide invaluable insights for the organization now and in the future.”