Eye Q and Immersive Entertainment: The Next Step In Entertainment Evolution
People are story-lovers. We’re entertainment addicts. From histories around the campfire, to Greek Theater, to printed books, silent movies, “talkies”, television, and 3D, we keep finding ways to take our storytelling one step further. As our culture evolves so do our storytelling techniques, and immersive entertainment is the next step in entertainment evolution.
As a concept more than a single strategy, the Eye Q team revels in finding new ways to bring immersive entertainment to our audience.
Projection Mapping
With the two shows Paradis and Elements (Norwegian Cruise line) we used 3D projection mapping onto the walls to extend the action around the audience, breaking the fourth wall and wrapping the audience in the story. These shows pushed beyond the stage experience to bring the story further out into the world, not only creating a richer viewing for each single member of the audience, and inviting them into the story.
Full Dome Productions
Full dome productions are a virtual reality community experience for the audience, a type of immersive theatre that embeds the audience into a scene. Our intention for both Pasión and The Storm were to bring these beautiful cultural stories to life in a 360 immersive dome. Telling these stories in unique and creative ways is deeply important, relevant work, and a unique opportunity to bring people together through a deeper understanding of the roots of a culture and how it relates to modern society. In The Storm, Eye Q loved utilizing the mix of modern day music and footage with ancestral imagery of the Seminole people to tell their story, adding in original environmental visuals, effects as well as a full surround sound design & fx to enhance the fully immersive experience.
4D Technology
The Constantine 4D Full Dome Experience, a collaborative production between Eye Q Productions, Eevolver & Vortex, was a spectacular 4D immersive event designed to promote the Constantine television show. The beauty of Constantine is that the television show itself wasn’t 4D immersive, but the full dome experience that we helped create bridged the gap between the original Hellboy comic book, the Constantine TV show, and a thrill ride, bringing the story full circle for the audience. In addition to vfx and animation we also utilized 4D effects such as strobe and air blasts to enhance the experience. There was a Constantine standee in front of the dome, and the client came up with the idea for a custom mobile application and live phone number where the audience could listen directly to John Constantine. When technology is utilized in such a way outside the confines of the theater the story becomes more than a fixed experience in time, but a personal “Choose Your Own Adventure”, where each individual directs their own experience through personal technology before and after the show itself.
For all that we here at Eye Q love to learn and use new and emerging technologies in our productions, the mission at the core of all of our work is always about the story, how we can use these technologies to bring our audience closer to the story than they’ve ever been before. Immersive entertainment, at its heart, is about bringing stories to life, putting viewers inside the story in the best way possible.
Whatever the form or format, Eye Q’s mission is to take production, storytelling, and viewer experience beyond passive entertainment to a whole new level of WOW!