BBC’s live immersive experiences
With younger audiences increasingly gravitating toward game-like environments and music events gaining popularity on gaming platforms such as Roblox, BBC in partnership with the startup Condense, created a live immersive initiative that brings fans virtually into the same room as their favorite artists. This innovative initiative redefines how live music is experienced and offers a new interactive digital experience accessible to anyone, anywhere, regardless of their device.
How it works?
BBC partnered up with tech startup Condense to develop an immersive music experience, using LiDAR equipped cameras , which are cameras that use lasers to measure distances, helping them create detailed 3D pictures of what they see, to capture artists’ performances and bringing them into a 3D game-engine environment that audiences can attend as an avatar. No downloads are required, the music performances are accessible through web browsers. By combining Condenses volumetric capture system, technology services and support expertise with BBC’s leadership in R&D, and rich UK musical legacy, an innovative and interactive space was created, where people can come together and enjoy live music in a new, immersive way.
Music Portal performances
The project kicked off with Radio 1’s New Music Portal and has hosted nine shows so far, each offering valuable learnings as every artist has different requirements or needs for specific instruments. For example: during the Magdalena Bay show, a large piano had to be integrated. The team discovered that static objects don’t render as well as moving objects, so they addressed this challenge by creating 3D models to emulate the placement of these instruments in the virtual space.
A standout gig, was Rave Lounge: a 3,5-hour event of BBC associated DJ’s, featuring live feedback of virtual audiences through emojis and introducing new lighting system elements.
What’s Next for the Immersive Project?
The BBC’s most recent event brought their immersive capture system live on stage for the first time during Big Weekend, a UK music festival, to test virtual capture in an outdoor setting. Beyond music, BBC is also exploring new content areas within the sport, news, children’s and marketing areas. Ultimately, the goal is not just innovation for innovation’s sake, but creating real audience value by doing more events and different types of content experiences and continuing the iterative process. Another goal is to improve the projects by gathering user feedback after each event to gain insight into the audience’s demographics and what they like or dislike.
