Immotion releases Humpback Whales VR experience

whale

North West virtual reality studios, Immotion Group, has released a world-first VR experience – Swimming With Humpback Whales.

The live action short film will only be available through the company’s VR Cinematic motion pods in the UK.

“This film is a first for VR. People can experience something they may have only dreamed about until now. Thanks to this piece of immersive filming, it’s possible for them to get up close with humpback whales,” explained Ian Liddell, Immotion’s Group Creative Director.

Immotion teamed up with free-diving cinematographer, Jeff Hester, who filmed a pod of the whales in the Kingdom of Tonga, while they were on migration from Antarctica.

Hester captured a female giving birth and bonding with her calf, young whales playing and a heat run.

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“This is a truly remarkable achievement to get so near to such a magnificent and endangered species. One of the great challenges was that our cinematographer, Jeff Hester, couldn’t scuba dive around the whales as the bubbles it generated would have disturbed them.  He had to hold his breath for up to four minutes at a time while keeping up with the whales. Each whale can weigh 40 tonnes and move at speeds of 15mph,” continued Liddell.

“At certain points, our camera is just three inches away from the whales’ pectoral fins.  From seeing them show dominance by rolling over and flapping their fins, a mother bonding with her calf, to the young whales gaining their independence – we’ve captured it all.”

After debuting in its pods, it will then be released via SonyVR, as well as through mobile downloads on iOS and Android devices.

“What we’ve managed to capture is truly breath-taking. The film provides an incredible insight into these elusive creatures.  The experience makes full use of the visual, sound and motion capabilities of our VR Cinematic motion pods to deliver our customers something ground-breaking and memorable.  We are excited about future instalments of our Blue Ocean Aquarium series, and demonstrating the power of VR to engage and thrill audiences,” added Martin Higginson, CEO of Immotion Group.

You can view the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/326674434/d725bcc16f

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