Will Corporate Video Production be replaced by Virtual Reality?

There has been a lot of talk in the video production industry about how 360 VR video can be used by companies and brands for marketing, training and communication. I attended BVE, a 3 day event in London recently where a number of discussions and demonstrations revolved around the applications for corporate video production. The potential is huge though no one is quite sure how this new technology will be taken up by mainstream culture. Is it a fad that will disappear along with 3-D, will it continue along with traditional video or will it replace 2D video altogether. Some are suggesting it could be a paradigm shift on the scale of mobile phones or even the internet.

What is virtual reality?

Virtual reality has been around for 15 years though the technology has never reached the consumer until now. The term virtual reality or VR was popularised by Jaron Lanier, an American computer philosopher and developer in the 1980s.

It has come to refer to an immersive experience where the sense of presence is heightened. Traditionally it has used computer generated graphics though 360 video in recent years is opening up a whole industry of immersive content from both professionals and consumers. 360 video viewed from a headset can feel incredibly immersive. The viewer can attain a high degree of presence though cannot interact with the environment like in CGI based VR used in games and simulators. At some point presumably, the technologies will merge and a realistic environment provided by video will become more interactive.

Is VR just a fad?

Several pushes have been given to VR over the years though it has never gained much momentum. 3-D film has taken a similar journey and the recent revival hasn't quite developed the momentum that Some had hoped. This time, things look different. The VR technology is now here and affordable. Several big-name industry players have backed it. Facebook famously bought the VR company Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion. Sony have jumped in with the PlayStation VR. Google are planning on a headset successor to the cardboard this year and Microsoft also seem to have something in the pipeline. VR will certainly be big in the gaming world but will it catch on in the mainstream? Goldman Sachs have predicted that VR will replaced TV within 10 years.  2016 should begin to give some answers with the release of VR technology to the public. My feeling is that 360 video will be the gateway more than the gaming industry. The danger is that the public may be put off by poor initial experiences through substandard headsets and poor quality user made YouTube content.

How can VR be used by companies and brands?

The VR experience allows the viewer to suspend disbelief and really feel present in another time and place. This seems to make us engage with the content in a much more profound way than if we perceive it as external to us as in 2-D video. This has massive corporate implications. The obvious one is virtual tours for location type industries like real estate and travel. However, it is in training and education where things get really interesting.

Training

The military have been using VR for a few years now to train soldiers in simulated battle scenarios.The research so far has indicated that in virtual reality environments people absorb information and behaviour much quicker and more deeply than through video training. This makes sense. It has long been known that the brain cannot really distinguish between an imagined scenario and a real one. This has been used extensively in hypnosis and NLP for reprogramming behaviour patterns. A 360 VR video training viewed through a headset could be as powerful as real life training. In fact, enhanced with other media such as sound and music, the experience could be more profound than real life training. How VR is used in corporate training is up to the imagination and foresight of each company. The opportunities are exciting.

Marketing

The place of VR in marketing is uncertain though potentially game changing. The fact that the user engages so deeply with the content in a VR experience creates huge opportunities for branding and marketing. There is clearly the novelty factor involved, but Coca-Cola received 36% more YouTube  hits on their recent VR ad than the 2-D version. Asda received 1.3 million hits on their VR ad compare to 23,000 on the 2-D version. Other Early adopters such as Elle, Samsung, Becker and Subway have also found great success through VR advertising. The playing field is wide open at the moment though I feel it requires a very subtle approach as the VR experience is so intense. The concept of video marketing became popular a decade or so ago as a branch of content marketing. Creating value driven video content which subtly though implicitly promotes the author. I feel the idea of VR marketing will require an even more subtle approach to branding. Branded content VR is the field that seems most likely to take off. Immersing the viewer in an enjoyable branded adventure.

So will virtual reality replace corporate video production?

I run a corporate video production company based in London, UK (Promo Video) so I am considering this question seriously. I do believe it's the future though I'm not sure how soon and what form it will take. I've also set up a new website VR Productions to explore the opportunities of VR for the corporate world. I think 360Vr and regular 2-D video both have their place and will live alongside each other for a while yet. The VR experience is a lot more intense and immersive though I imagine people won't want it to overtake their lives. Certain types of corporate video production are still better done in a 2-D environment. For me text and subtitles don't work so well in virtual reality. 360 video is best suited to creating immersive experiences rather than information rich content. Some Films in VR work very well but it necessitates a much more experiential approach to filmmaking. The viewer needs to be guided in which direction to look if a story needs to be told. I think if I'm to watch a film for 90 minutes it may annoy me to have to keep looking around to see the important details. Short content seems to work best. The studies at Stanford are suggesting 20 minutes in VR is comfortable for most people. For me events are an exciting application of 360 video. Watching events in VR really feels like you're there. Event VR is likely to be the first service we'll be offering to our clients at Promo Video. Attending discussions, round tables, board meetings and conferences in virtual reality will likely be  a cost-effective and logistic application for the corporate world. 

So I think that 360 VR video and regular corporate video will live side-by-side for the foreseeable future. They do require different skills and approaches and I think VR production may form I new subset of the video production industry.