The visual effects team that made Gravity look so God damn great is planning to “tell the story of the universe”, using Magic Leap’s augmented reality technology to create an immersive live show next year.
Fronted by Professor Brian Cox — the British physicists turned TV personality — the production will use the cutting-edge AR system that we only know a little about. Not read about yet? You can read our report on it, but as a refresher:
[T]his is what Magic Leap intends to build: a Google Glass on steroids that can seamlessly blend computer-generated graphics with the real world. A headset packed with fibre optic projectors, crazy lenses, and loads of cameras. An augmented reality that you’ll actually believe in.
Sounds like just the kind of things to explore the Universe with, right? The BBC explains that the new production, called The Age of Starlight, will first go on show at the Manchester International Festival in the UK next July. The production will be put together by Framestore — whose Tim Webber who won an Oscar for Gravity — along with Manchester designer Peter Saville. Speaking to the BBC, Cox explained what we can expect:
“It’s the premiere of a technology that allows you to put digital images into your field of vision directly. I saw the prototype in Miami a few months ago and it’s stunning. It is going to be transformative technology, there’s no doubt about that.”
“Whereas in television documentary you’re attacking these ideas from a scientific perspective, in this case it’s much more of an emotional experience and I think it should be disorientating,” he continued. “I want people to stagger out and have to have a sit-down for a long time before they go home. It’s supposed to be beyond what you would get in a documentary. It’s not a science lecture, it’s not a science documentary. It’s a piece of art.”
Right now, there’s little else to explain how the final result will turn out, but the BBC explains that up to 50 people will be able to watch each show at a time. We can’t wait to go and try it out. [BBC]