Is it me... or was 2019 the year of 4D?

Have you experienced the Secret Cinema? Walked with Lord Vader? Laughed at the Smoking Caterpillar? If not, why not? In 2019 creative immersion was eyeball to eyeball with VR and AR. As always, don’t believe me, check out The Immersive Design summit and The VR Awards for a view of this year’s winners.

But what exactly is an immersive experience?

Similar to VR, but without the headset, immersion uses all four senses to create an emotive experience. Also known as 4D, with roots in the theatre, this emerging genre is rapidly becoming a serious alternative for advertisers and their brands, especially in the land of Pharma’ where pushing boundaries for non-branded and branded is a must.

My 2019 involvement with immersion came with See Below and judging by it’s global list of awards, it’s already a big hit. So exactly how do you make a multi-award winning 4D gem?

First: the brief.

The idea was to create a film for congress, challenging dermatologists to change the way they treated the highly emotive subject of atopic dermatitis. The brief was finding a way to bring the subject to life in an informative but entertaining format. To get the audience involved.

Second: The Team.

Continuing my relationship with an award winning healthcare agency Havas Lynx, creative Director Phil Howells, partner Jamie Axford and Maker we produced a believable patient film based around great casting and an engaging human performance. But here’s the twist…

Third: Technical challenges.

The wrap around screen was in fact a number of screens, all needing to be synced to play simultaneously to produce the desired immersive effect. The floor and ceiling were also screens. Content needed to be shot under and over water with multiply performers, a central protagonist and children. At one stage in pre-production there was a joke about adding an animal, just to complete the technical difficulties. Hell, we’d swam with sharks, why not!

Shot in a single day at an outside location in the UK we combined underwater specialists such as Mark Silk - who’s been trapped 47 meters down for as long as I’ve known him (we first met on a beach in Cornwall during the filming of Blue Juice) - with the production skills of James Wilson and Luke Toyne from Maker.

Fourth: The environment.

The final live action film was artfully combined with two other animations (not produced by us) to form the centrepiece of a booth, styled as a wood panelled Manhattan apartment elevator, inside which were seven 98” screens, Sound design, scene triggered temperature and aroma changes created an immersive experience - and even had a bellhop on hand to usher delegates in.

Fifth: An award winning effect.

The Communiqué judges commented: “In a sea of ordinary conference stands, the See Below campaign really stands out. It was able to grab people from the minute they walked out of the Metro to the congress. It felt different, new and fresh and it also succeeded in achieving long term engagement, an outstanding project.

And if you fancy something a little more festive why not check out an immersive Christmas show. Then, although I’m very excited by the BBC’s upcoming adaptation of A Christmas Carol, I’m not sure I want to have dinner with Scrooge… Have a great Festive Season and see you all in 2020.