360 videos are becoming more and more common as VR hardware becomes more accessible and the distribution platforms become more streamlined. However, the types of content available have remained essentially the same – trending more toward live streams, vlogs, action cams, and other “slice of life” style content.
There is a definite vacuum in the area of narrative driven 360 content – brought on by both the infantile state of the medium and the inherent challenges of spherical storytelling. However, the VR content studio, Rascali, is planning two upcoming 360 projects that may be filling this vacuum sooner rather than later.
The first project, titled Raven, is a hybrid live action/CGI sci-fi story that envisions a future wherein, “The Earth has become toxic. With no other options, humanity uses the last of their resources to create the most ambitious space program in the history of the world – Project Raven. The goal is simple: Find a new home, or humanity itself will cease to be.”
Riscali’s next project moves from Raven’s more subtle storyline to the brilliant colors of a children’s cartoon. The Storybook Project is geared towards young children and seems to be an anthology-stye series that will reimagine “old classics” such as The Tortoise and The Hare in a “brand new way.”
These series are being co-produced by China’s massive Youku Todou. Both Raven and The Storybook Project will be available through YouTube, Facebook/Oculus Video, Jaunt, Littlstar, Vrideo, Samsung MilkVR, and the newly launched Youku VR platform.
360 video is the hot new medium for content creation in 2016. In years past years, industry events such as CES or NAB were full to bursting with HD cameras and 3D enable devices. Today, however, the era of immersive content is well underway and those same convention centers are now being overrun by 360 capture systems.
Final release dates for these two series are still under wraps but we’ll let you know the moment they are announced.
Rascali is a division of Reload Studios, the Los Angeles based development team behind the upcoming VR competitive shooter, World War Toons.
