Issue 42  18th December 2015

TV, computers, mobile phones, tablets, watches; the majority of digital design over the past few decades has been for a flat rectangular screen. However we're starting to see the emergence of virtual and augmented reality devices, which will likely shape our digital experiences over the next few decades. When you take away that small flat rectangle you're left with familiar concepts like a horizon, peripheral vision, focus, distance, perspective—and yet when it comes to UI design these are entirely unfamiliar.

For example we currently have the concept of responsive design, where a web page or UI adapts to different screen sizes. But how does an immersive UI adapt to concepts like distance? Height? Speed? Brightness? Darkness?

This is a fantastic read, well written and well illustrated.

A hugely detailed and engrossing read on ESPN's plans for sports coverage across every possible channel, both TV and social. The sheer breadth of their operation is staggering, and what's more, underneath it all they get it. If you want an inside look into what it takes to cover sports at the highest level, you simply can't miss this.

"The Swayze Effect describes the sensation of having no tangible relationship with your surroundings despite feeling present in the world. Basically, it’s the feeling of yelling “I’m here! I’m here!” when no one or nothing else around seems to acknowledge it." - Matt Burdette

The Oculus Story Studio are at the forefront of storytelling in VR and have already produced two animated VR films; Lost and Henry. They've been documenting their discoveries in their blog and the latest one is about the interesting conflict between presence and narrative. You can engage the viewer in amazing narrative, but then they lose the sense of immersion in the VR environment. Conversely, if the VR environment is too distracting then they won't be paying attention to the story.

"Why does it matter how the main character feels about his dog if you can’t get over this coffee cup sitting right here in front of you… it’s right here and oh man, look at it. It’s right THERE, you can just reach out and pick it up and — there you go. You’ve lost the narrative." - Matt Burdette

As more and more storytellers start producing actual story-driven content in VR, and not just content that places you in the middle of an environment, we can see this becoming a much talked about topic. Despite the Pixar experience in the Oculus Story Studio, they still don't have an answer or a solution for this delicate balancing act. It just goes to show what a fundamentally new experience VR is; it requires a complete rethink about how you tell a story.

It’s not the technology that entertains people, it’s what you do with the technology ... When you start doing something that’s truly new you will hear, “It’s not going to work.” - John Lasseter

On May 12th this year Pixar's Chief Creative Officer, John Lasseter, gave an inspiring presentation to an Academy event. The broad theme of his speech is one that has been around as long as media itself. Namely that whenever new technology comes along there are always people who say "it'll never work" or "it can't be done". Inevitably though there will be a pioneer who uses it to tell the perfect story, and overnight the new technology becomes accepted.

It's something Lasseter is deeply familiar with, having been told that CG was too 'cold' and 'sterile' for animation. Then he made Toy Story. So as the pace of technological change becomes faster and faster, it's important to keep that thought in mind! If lots of people are saying something isn't going to work, it's almost a sure sign that it eventually will.

The Verge have created an interesting timeline with stunning visuals that takes us through the history of VR in popular culture since 1950. From classics such as Tron (1982) and an episode of the Simpsons (1993) “Marge vs the Monorail”, the article describes how virtual reality has been introduced to us through storytelling and how it has evolved to present day.

Rerun resident and Axonista CEO Claire McHugh gives her take on binge viewing, its origins and social implications.

Rerun resident and Axonista CTO Daragh Ward writes a mantra to TV UX.

TV is an undisputed wonder of technology. With TV being viewed more and more on touch screen devices and the democratization of the technology required to make and deliver TV content, comes a myriad of possibilities for the future of our wonderful medium. With so many possibilities available to us, we sometimes have to remind ourselves of a mantra that all TV technologists should adhere to.

A few weeks ago, Marcin Wichary rented a movie theatre in San Francisco and invited friends to watch a classic ’80s Polish TV show that he re-edited into a 2½-hour movie.

The evening's entertainment included pre-feature music videos, the feature itself, with English subtitles, along with an intermission. In a stroke of brilliance, Wichary built the entire visual presentation as a slide deck, in HTML, which he played out using full-screen Safari from his MacBook, connected to the theatre's projector.

We just loved the thought process behind this and the attention to detail in ensuring a trouble-free presentation. The whole thing is a wonderful collision of everyday technology for small screen interactive presentations and the fully immersive cinema viewing experience.

This is the story of BAM (short for MLBAM) (short for Major League Baseball Advanced Media) and how they've risen to become a streaming heavyweight, the struggles they've faced, the victories, the gambles, the payoffs. Such is their expertise that HBO called them in to build out the infrastructure for HBO Now, and they did it in just over three months. Earlier this week they settled a lucrative six-year streaming and content deal with the NHL.

The arrival of Facebook and Twitter appeared to threaten the advertising industry’s very existence. So what happened next?

This is a very interesting read on the growing cynicism within the advertising industry towards digital marketing, the reasons why algorithmically targeted marketing is not all that great (you don't increase market share by advertising to customers you already have), and how TV ads remain as powerful and important as ever.

How do you get into your customer's head? You do it through emotional stories that connect and resonate with them. Video is the best medium for this, hence the current moves by big digital brands towards video and TV, both for advertising and for content.

"At the risk of being labelled Luddite, they suggested that although the internet has changed how the game is played, it has not changed its fundamental rules: mass marketing works; fame works; emotion works — and “legacy media”, especially TV, still do all of this better than the new."

Max Chafkin looks at the story of the Oculus Rift from its conception in a tool shed, to the moment when Zuckerberg said “Wow, that was pretty awesome" and handed over $2 billion to Palmer Luckey, to what lies ahead in its future.

"Eventually I think we’re going to have technology where we can communicate our full sensory experience and emotions to someone through thought" - Mark Zuckerberg

Both Zuckerberg and Luckey's vision of the future mirrors the movie Inception. They believe that one day we will all plug-in to replace real world interactions. The team behind Oculus are looking to grasp the realism of interacting with other people in other places by creating the sensation of what VR enthusiasts call “presence”.

"The goal is to have two people [in different locales] feel—really feel—like they’re in the same place together" - Palmer Luckey