i3 - November/December 2016 - 25

Some 2D
Content
Can Work
Inside VR
Hulu's Smith
says Hulu 2D VR content
is doing better than
expected. "A big surprise was the amount of
long-form movie content
that people consume
inside of the Hulu 2D
experience," he says.
"After further analysis,
this made a lot of sense.
For many people, virtual
reality will be the biggest
and the brightest and the
best screen in their

house, but the device
ergonomics are not
conducive for long-form
viewing right now."
Smith notes that
despite VR's possibilities,
consumers don't always
want to engage with
their content so actively.
"When a viewer turns
on Hulu, they have
signaled that they want
to lean back and be
entertained," he says. "It's
passive. When a viewer
turns on a game console,
they have signaled they
want to lean forward and
participate. VR can more
readily blend these two
forms of entertainment."

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Look For Stories That
Need to Be in VR
While 2D content can work in VR, creators looking to produce new VR content
may want to focus on stories best served
by the medium. As Brown notes, "there's
a lot that a 2D video just can't showcase as well
as an immersive virtual reality experience and it's
these very experiences that we seek out." "Creating
virtual reality experiences for Shark Week was a
no-brainer: VR allows us to place viewers in the
middle of the action where they would never dare
go otherwise and what's more heart-pounding than
swimming underwater with sharks?"

VR
Can Be
Physically
Taxing
Hulu's Smith
points out that
VR isn't just in your face -
it's on your face. And after
a while, that can take a toll
in ways that people who've
only tried it briefly might
not expect. He says, "the
devices are designed to be
technical showcases more
than habitual experiences.

People enjoy virtual reality
regardless of the device
when they're experiencing
a two-minute piece of
content, but four hours
of straight TV viewing
might be difficult because
today's devices are heavy
and uncomfortable.
Storytellers have to take
device ergonomics into
consideration. It's critical
for the ergonomics and
storytelling to match."

CREATORS
CAN'T MAKE
ASSUMPTIONS
ABOUT THE
USER'S GEAR
"Since the
platforms are
so new," says
Simon, "we
like to design
content that
works on as
many of them
as possible,
and that
means that you
cannot assume
anything."
For example,
storytellers
may want to
use directional
audio to draw
a user's focus.
But Simon
notes that
depending on
gear, some
users might
not necessarily
be wearing
headphones
or even have
their audio
turned on.
Simon notes
that brands
that offer VR at
specific events
avoid some
of these
challenges.
"You can
guarantee the
environment
and the
hardware that
they're using."

entire focus to every
minute of a game they
attend - they also take
breaks to check their
phones, talk to friends,
VR
or buy some food. In real
Can Be
life, says Simon, "there
Mentally is something that lets
Draining you disconnect from
whatever experience
By focusing
you're having that can
a consumer on a single
be seen as a benefit
intense experience, VR
sometimes."
can exact a mental cost.
Similarly, battle"I don't actually know
if you had courtside seats field games may be
less appealing if they
in a streamed basketball
simulate the experience
game if you would
of war too realistically.
actually want to watch
"We know you can't
the whole thing in VR,"
just take Call of Duty
says Simon. "It might be
and put it in VR," says
too exhausting, not from
a physical perspective but Simon. "When it's
moving that fast, you
more from an emotional
actually can't keep up
perspective of being that
intense." This makes sense with it and the intensity
of just being shot at
if you think about the
continuously for more
way people watch games
than twenty minutes or
in the real world. Fans
so is just exhausting."
typically don't give their

Embrace Your Mistakes
and Learn From Them
"If we're not failing," says
Discovery's Brown, "we're not
trying hard enough." Discovery
launched VR content in August 2015,
and Brown says his team have learned a lot not just
from their own experience, but also from audience
feedback. Of course, the learning never really stops.
Brown describes it as "an ongoing cycle: as new
innovations emerge, we'll have to determine how
n
we can best leverage them."

See the latest
VR advances at
CES 2017 in
The Gaming and
Virtual Reality
Marketplace.
http://www.ces.tech/Show-Floor/Marketplaces/Gaming.aspx
i3 - November/December 2016

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