Common Ground Previews – VR City/East City Films

In May 2019, VR City/East City Films engaged Virtual Umbrella to help them run a special preview event for their immersive documentary, ‘Common Ground’.
We had two main tasks. First, to help VR City/East City Films transform their fantastic venue at the ASC Gallery into a functioning VR exhibition space. And second, to optimise everything for the smoothest and most attractive showcase experience possible.

We began by installing 4 Oculus Rifts and VR laptops. The installation process was slightly more complex than usual, as we needed to install additional codecs onto each laptop. Fortunately, this proved no problem for our experienced technical/demo staff!

We also had the added complexity of preparing each viewing station for room-scale tracking. This meant wall-mounting 3 Oculus sensors per station. Our solution? 3D print our very own sensor mounts, allowing every Oculus sensor to be wall-mounted in the perfect position.
The experience itself explores life at the Aylesbury Estate, South London – Europe’s largest council estate. Using a mixture of 360 video, photogrammetry, 3D modelling, and archive materials, it gives viewers a powerful, human-centric insight into the past and present of social housing in the UK.

With such an important & fascinating topic on show, combined with only having 4 viewing stations, and an eager audience of VIPs (including the film’s crew, stars, and their family & friends), we knew the experience would be in high demand. With this in mind, we also devised a booking schedule for use across the event. No waiting times. No queues. Just a smooth, frustration-free showcase.