McCann NY and Framestore–two shops that teamed to bring us Lockheed Martin’s VR piece “Field Trip to Mars,” the single-most awarded campaign at Cannes 2016, earning 19 Lions across 11 categories (including Cyber, Entertainment, PR, Innovation)–have again collaborated on an immersive viewing experience, this time with National Geographic, debuting the One Strange Rock: Space Projection Helmet. The technology promotes One Strange Rock, a 10-part series which debuts March 26 on National Geographic.
From executive producers Darren Aronofsky and Jane Root, One Strange Rock tells the extraordinary story of Earth, told from the only people who have ever left it: astronauts. Inspired by the innovative storytelling in One Strange Rock, National Geographic created the Space Projection Helmet to bring this unique astronaut vantage-point even closer to those on Earth. The limited-edition gear was exhibited earlier this week during an event at the Whitby Hotel Theater in New York City and will go on tour of schools and planetariums in select cities this spring. The Space Projection Helmets were also showcased during a recent premiere event at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall in New York City.
Housed in a replica space helmet, the projection technology creates an immersive viewing experience through a unique combination of laser projection, custom fish-eye optics and in-built audio. Unlike in-market VR headsets, the helmet offers an exceptionally wide field of view and is designed so the user can freely move their head inside of the dome to look around the entire field of vision, just as an astronaut would within his or her helmet in space.
“One Strange Rock is an unprecedented television experience; we were inspired by the innovative storytelling, mesmerizing footage and the unique accounts of astronauts to create a specialized viewing mechanism that would elevate and emulate their first-hand experience,” said Jill Cress, chief marketing and brand officer, National Geographic Partners. “The OSR Space Projection Helmet furthers National Geographic’s commitment to use technology to make science fun, entertaining, and accessible to new audiences.”
Nir Refuah, executive technology creative director, McCann NY, said, “One Strange Rock tells the story of earth from the unique perspective of astronauts who have seen it from outer space, and we wanted to replicate that view and experience right here on earth. Using internal projection, a full visor field of view and free head movement, the Space Projection Helmet enables a space experience that no VR headset could deliver.”
The Space Projection Helmet will travel to schools and planetariums in select cities this spring, including the Center of Science and Industry (COSI) in Columbus, Ohio, and Liberty State Science Center in Jersey City, NJ, so that new audiences will be able to experience the mesmerizing, first-hand footage from One Strange Rock.
Hosted by Will Smith, One Strange Rock is a mind-bending, full-sensory journey that explores the fragility and wonder of our planet. It’s the extraordinary story of why life as we know it exists on Earth. This series reveals the twists of fate that have allowed life to emerge, survive and thrive on Earth. The show features astronauts Nicole Stott, Jeff Hoffman, Leland Melvin, Mike Massimino, Peggy Whitson, Jerry Linenger, Chris Hadfield and Mae Jemison.
One Strange Rock is executive produced by Aronofsky and Ari Handel from Protozoa Pictures and Root and Arif Nurmohamed from Nutopia.
McCann’s helmet team included Eric Silver, chief creative officer, North America; Tom Murphy and Sean Bryan, co-chief creative officers, NY; Chris Mitton, executive creative director; Nir Refuah, executive technology creative director; Pete Sherer, sr. copywriter; Rick Cohen, sr. art director; Ryan Quigley and Andrew Hajjar, associate creative directors; Nathy Aviram, chief production officer; Christine Lane, executive director–innovation; Cindi Blondell, executive producer; Courtney Fallow, lead producer–innovation; Jeremy Miller, chief communications officer; Neena Koyen, director brand communications; Savanah Brihn, group strategy director; Colin Parajon, sr. strategist; Eric Perini, sr. brand content creator; and Brett Berman and Aude Cuenod, brand content creators.
Tomrrow Lab handled helmet design and production, with key contributors being lead designer Pepin Gelardt, lead interaction designer Theodore Ullrich, coordinator Shelby Thompson, associate designer Ben Oppenheimer, product design engineer Tan Tran; interaction, interaction designer Jing Wen Zhu, electrical engineer Dorian Fernandez, interaction designer Joe Saavedra and assembler Lucy Yip.
The Framestore ensemble on content production included exec producer Christine Cattano, sr. producer Pete Jones, producer PJ Stegall, director/creative director David Estis, editors Sam Goetz and Jake Sadowsky, CG lead Gabriel Portnof, compositing leads Matt Pascuzzi and Steve Drew, and compositor Zavier Mojica.
Hook handled software development with director of engineering Norman McGarry and producer Kathryn Newman.
Lead helmet fabricator was Jude Henson Oliver of Tricreation, which teamed with Forecast 3D on helmet fabrication.
SCHROM x Yacht Club and Be Electric Studios Launch Electric XR for Virtual Production
SCHROM x Yacht Club, a full-service live-action, tabletop, and postproduction company, has teamed with Be Electric Studios, a soundstage, equipment rental, and virtual production company, to launch Electric XR, a virtual production collective.
Industry veteran Thomas Rossano will lead the new venture, which provides advanced virtual production solutions across multiple facilities. He brings over 25 years of experience in live-action, tabletop, postproduction and talent curation to enhance Electric XR’s offerings as a resource for brands and agencies, as well as other production companies in need of virtual production solutions. Additionally Rossano continues to serve as EP at XR New York (XR-NY), a role he’s held since December 2022. SCHROM x Yacht Club originally established XR-NY to help provide XR services for third-party rentals. While XR-NY will continue to function independently for SCHROM X Yacht Club, it now operates under the Electric XR umbrella.
Rossano’s expertise spans producing live-action commercials, branded content, interactive and experiential content. In addition to leading Electric XR, he holds responsibilities at SCHROM x Yacht Club which include driving business development, collaborating with sales reps and expanding the company’s creative talent network. Rossano’s career includes serving as an exec producer at Hungry Man for about 11 years, right from that company’s inception. He then went on to become a partner at Station Film where he also had a lengthy tenure. Later he was a partner at PRISM. Then after the pandemic hit, he became a freelance EP for nearly two years, looking into opportunities in virtual production, which led him to XR NY and now Electric XR. Over the years, he has produced high-profile... Read More