The majority of European TV consumers now watch TV programs in a multi-display environment. Second screens -mostly smartphones, tablets or laptops- are generally used to check information not directly related to the events in the TV content being watched. As a result, the attention of the audience is generally divided between these different streams of information. Broadcasters have tried to orchestrate all these different rendering platforms to complement each other consistently. However, their success has been limited due, at least in part, to the very different formats in which information is delivered (web-based texts, mobile apps, traditional broadcast television, etc.).
In this context, the arrival of immersive head-mounted displays to the consumer market introduced new possibilities, but also new challenges. Immersive displays impose radically different audience requirements compared to traditional broadcast TV and social media. They require a constant, frequently refreshed, omnidirectional audiovisual stream that integrates sensorimotor information. This means that, at minimum, the visual perspective rendered changes consistently with changes in head position and rotation. In addition, immersive displays challenge the conventions of traditional audiovisual language. For example, cuts between shots, which constitute the very basic fabric of traditional cinematic language, do not work well in immersive displays. From a user perspective, omnidirectional TV offers a new user experience and a different way of engaging with the audiovisual content.
As an answer to the need of exploring this new context, ImmersiaTV has explored new forms of digital storytelling and broadcast production by putting omnidirectional video at the center of the creation, production and distribution of content, delivering an all-encompassing experience that integrates the specificities of immersive displays within the contemporary living room. We have proposed a form of broadcast omnidirectional video that offers end-users a coherent audiovisual experience across head mounted displays, second screens and the traditional TV set, instead of having their attention divided across them. This new experience seamlessly integrates with and further augment traditional TV and second screen consumer habits. In other terms: the audience is still be able to watch TV sitting on their couch, or tweet comments about it. However, the audience is also able to use immersive displays to feel like being inside the audiovisual stream.
The primary goal of IMMERSIATV has been to create an end to end toolset for the creation of multiscreen immersive experiences, addressing the different phases of content creation: ideation, production, distribution and consumption. This resulted in the 5 main project objectives described here:
Objective 1, the creation of a new immersive cinematographic language.
Objective 2, to adapt the production pipeline.
Objective 3, to Re-design the distribution chain.
Objective 4, to maximize the quality of the end-user and professional-user experience.
Objective 5, to maximize the market impact of the ImmersiaTV solutions and to ensure ImmersiaTV has a determining impact on the European and global audiovisual market.
