Last week, Hanhai Studio held its first workshop as part of the Hollywood Entertainment Technology Festival (HEFest) Workshop Series. The chosen topic spun off a popular panel at HETFest, which talked about Location-based Entertainment (LBE). The workshop, LBEs and Immersive Entertainment: A Symposium on the Consumer Experience, examined the dynamics of operators, content creators, and consumers to determine how technology looks to create experiences enjoyed by mainstream audiences.
Despite it raining throughout the day – a rarity in itself for Los Angeles – attendees came into Hanhai Studio ready to network and add to the intimate discussion with three featured speakers; Richard Chang, Advisor and Chairman, Asia for Two Bit Circus; Jenna Seiden, Advisor for Beat Saber and Springboard VR; Ed Lantz, President and CTO for Vortex Immersion Media, Inc.
The experts shared what their companies were doing in making the consumer experience better, and also how that translated into the long-term strategies of each company. Also, the discussion addressed how games, or experiences, are considered when an operator chooses what to exhibit at their venues, as well as the different types of industry partnerships developed to highlight such experiences.
In an example on the latter, Mr. Lantz talked about a partnership with musician James Hood and his new album, Mesmerica, where Vortex Immersion Media (VIM) created an immersive show based on happiness and joy to complement the soothing sounds from the album. VIM creates immersive entertainment via 360-degree dome experiences. In the show, they are able to convey happiness through positive psychology by using colors and “neuro-linguistic programming.” The end result had attendees “crying” as they left the show feeling an overwhelming sense of joy. So far, every show has sold-out (on their limited 18-show run in DTLA) from all the positive reviews.
Success stories like this are a harbinger of what’s to come in the LBE space. As the discussion touched on whether it is important to have hardware be a necessity in immersive entertainment (it’s not), the attendees and speakers concluded that venues which provide emphasis on actual “experience”, storytelling, and socialization, are ones consumers flock to the most.
By the end, the first workshop on LBEs was able to fulfill its goal of providing a valuable discussion opportunity for speakers and attendees, where constructive and working dialogue developed from its intimate interactive setting. Even with many industry-insiders in attendance, it provided a fresh perspective on what consumers want.
What a great way to cap off 2018, and only shows promise for more topic-driven workshops in 2019. Stay tuned!