Ulster Touring Opera develops an AR Don Giovanni

The Belfast-based, cross-border opera company Ulster Touring Opera recently completed a Future Screens NI funded R&D Project exploring how immersive technology can play a central role in developing the future audience for opera. Focusing on Augmented Reality technology in the field of opera, UTO worked with its partners in order to chart a new immersive experience, where any user can enjoy and explore world-class operatic performance in their own home.

The project drew on Act II of Mozart’s famous opera Don Giovanni, where the famous seducer is dragged to hell. Set in naturalistic settings, the libretti was selected for its surreal eruption into real space, ideal material to explore creative, technical and production advancement by staging it in the user’s own home using AR.

In partnership with Belfast based company Sentireal, Dublin based company Volograms, and UTO’s own application developer Robbie McKinney UTO has created this 5-minute-long augmented reality event, as well as the App to host this and other AR Opera experiences.

For more information on Ulster Touring Opera visit here.

StoryFutures Academy & Future Screens NI announce 8 leading immersive companies for VP Futures

Announcing 8 leading immersive companies have successfully secured a place on the groundbreaking Virtual Production partnership programme ‘VP Futures’ with StoryFutures Academy and Future Screens NI supported by Epic Games and Industrial Light & Magic.

This new and innovative partnership will deliver a package of targeted virtual production training, development and production support for the creative screen industries in the UK.

The 8 companies are:
Sunnyside
Engine House
Draw & Code
Liminal Stage Productions
RETìníZE
Aura Digital Studios
Soluis
Taunt

Read more here.

Notasuch Films explore the possibilities of VR in mocumentary, narrative filmmaking

Belfast-based production company Notasuch Films completed the final report of research developed through a Future Screens NI R&D project to explore VR & Immersive technology for storytelling endeavours. With a history of film and television experience Notasuch Films developed Total Immersion in a narrative mocumentary-style to explore logistics of narrative VR filming. The resulting VR film was featured at Future Screens NI’s booth at Beyond 2021 and will be submitted to film festivals with subsequent output in publicly accessible platforms.

Boom Clap Play explore the limits of Microsoft Azure sensor for animation production

Future Screens NI are pleased to announce that Belfast-based design firm Boom Clap Play, specialising in Animation, Visual & Audio Design and XR projects have recently finished an R&D project exploring the use of Microsoft Azure Kinect Depth Sensor. The project sought to test the limits of the new depth sensor technology including new hardware based AI body tracking technology, ease of adaptability into Unity game engine, and the possibility of extending gesture functionality using native and machine learning to create a new creative tool and workflow.

Meet The Weatherbies, Eco-Education focused animations for student learning.

Northern Ireland-based content creators, The Weatherbies recently completed the Future Screens NI Narrative Futures project challenging creative industries to explore where and how changes have impacted the creative industries. To meet the call founding-member and creative director Yvonne Flemming and her team created the project “Meet the Weatherbies” a collection of video-based stories based on a community of loveable weather themed characters with the aim to help to comfort children, reduce anxieties, and fears they might have in today’s ever climate changing world. The concept will inspire children to look up to the sky, see and feel the weather as a friend, that can both nurture and be nurtured.

Following the completion of the project to develop videos the aim now is to release a songbook and related music available through streaming services for kids. Drawing on partnerships with Eco-Schools, as a delivery partner for their Green Flag initiative, the project can enhance Schools / playschools, teachers and children learning experience with access to original, fun content that deliver stories within a positive and educational message. The videos will promote an eco-friendly message, relevant more so now than ever, helping children be more aware of the world around them.

Rewriting the Narrative was an open call to the Northern Ireland creative industries challenging them to explore where and how changes have impacted the creative industries. The call was aimed at identifying how we can learn from the current situation, both positives and negatives, and use it to strengthen the industry once normality returns. The funding call was a Future Screens NI and Northern Ireland Screen partnership.