Deluxe Entertainment Services Inc. (Deluxe) has rolled out a new slate of technology and services to develop content for immersive entertainment and virtual reality experiences. Coinciding with this announcement, Deluxe has recently completed work on “Neuro,” developed with creative VR studio Kite & Lightning for GE, debuting today at the E3 Expo in Los Angeles, Calif.
“For 100 years, Deluxe has been at the forefront of entertainment innovation. Adding a suite of virtual reality services is a natural extension of the company’s industry leading digital postproduction capabilities into this new high-growth content arena,” said Stefan Sonnenfeld, CEO, Deluxe Creative Services. “Deluxe has established a workflow precedent that gives our clients better ways to build high-res 360 content faster and more efficiently.”
Deluxe’s new VR services draw on the collective talent at Deluxe companies worldwide, including Method Studios and Company 3. Current and future customers can benefit from the company’s best practices and toolsets for optimizing immersive content creation workflows.
“Deluxe will provide its virtual reality customers a premier pipeline for the processing and development of content in the virtual reality world, automating a process that can otherwise be very time and labor intensive,” said David Kassler, CEO, Deluxe Entertainment Services.
“Neuro” is an entirely computer generated five-minute immersive film, which is being shown on the latest VR headsets, and was developed using AMD graphics technology. With creative direction by Kite & Lightning co-founders Ikrima Elhassan and Cory Strassburger, the team helped bring to life the video’s main character–a detailed digital model of Ladytron DJ/band member, Reuben Wu. To ensure an accurate likeness, special attention was paid to all aspects of his virtual alter ego. In addition to creating a photo-real digital model, his facial performance was captured and animated to match the narrated voiceover. Deluxe also provided ADR (automated dialogue replacement) for the project.
Deluxe and Kite & Lightning will be demonstrating the “Neuro” VR experience during the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity being held June 21-27, 2015 in Cannes, France.