SBS launches new SBS On Demand Virtual Reality App
Friday 1 April 2016
SBS Director of Television and Online Content, Marshall Heald, said: “VR and 360° video technology represents the new frontier of storytelling — a truly powerful new medium offering audiences unique immersive experiences to give them greater insights and understanding, with distinctive stories that explore our diverse and multicultural world.”
The first VR project featured on the new app will complement Thursday night’s television premiere of SBS’s observational documentary series Inside Heston’s World — a 360° video of chef Heston Blumenthal giving viewers an exclusive behind the scenes tour of parts of The Fat Duck restaurant in Melbourne, the focus of the television series. Heston reports that 250,000 people registered to get a coveted seat at the restaurant. With only 14,000 seats available to diners in the six months that The Fat Duck was in residence, foodies across Australia — as well as the 236,000 curious fans out there starving for a look at what could have been — will now be able to get an extra glimpse inside.
Later in the year SBS will release on the app the second season of SBS documentary series Untold Australia as a VR series. Co-funded by Screen Queensland, Untold Australia VR will be a series of factual VR films exploring the diversity of Australia’s people, their cultures and lifestyles. Up to four films will be commissioned as part of the series, with filmmakers in Queensland invited to apply. These VR documentaries will utilise 360° video and/or computer-generated interactive media to create immersive stories.
SBS will also explore VR opportunities in its newsroom and is training camera operators and editors to produce VR content.
The SBS On Demand VR app is free to download and is available for Apple iOS and Google Android smartphones through the App Store and Google Play stores respectively.
Visit sbs.com.au/vr
Notes to Editors
Watching a 360º video on a smartphone gives the user the added ability to pan around the video by moving the device itself, as if they were controlling the camera. The experience is further optimised by viewing a 360º video through a VR headset, such as the Google Cardboard, which considerably heightens the sensation of presence.
Using the SBS On Demand VR app allows users to quickly and easily load 360º videos onto their device. The intuitive interface lets them choose the video they want to watch and the mode in which they want to experience it. Push notifications will alert users every time a new video becomes available and the video carousel will continue to expand as more videos are published.
Users will also be able to easily share their favourite videos through Facebook and Twitter.