BBC Taster launches free virtual reality app with Planet Earth II content
BBC Taster has launched a new virtual reality app for free on Android and iOS featuring content from BBC Three and Planet Earth II.
The app is part of BBC Taster’s remit to put the BBC’s early and experimental ideas in the hands of audiences and will feature a range of content designed for virtual reality on mobile devices.
This includes animated VR, interactive 360° videos, dynamic binaural audio and branching narratives, which let users decide where to take the story.
One of the first pieces of VR which will be available on the app is a trailer for upcoming BBC Three feature-length documentary One Deadly Weekend in America. The VR trailer is a virtual experience about gun crime, designed to immerse viewers in an American street scene where clips from the documentary play around you.
Other content to feature in the app include new interactive 360° content from Planet Earth II, which enables viewers to choose their path through the story. The app will be regularly updated with new VR experiences over the coming weeks and months.
Says Andy Conroy, Controller of BBC Research & Development: “BBC Taster VR will be a fantastic showcase for some brilliant new commissions, as well as some new takes on some of the best BBC Taster VR experiences to date. It gives audiences cutting-edge mobile VR experiences from the BBC and, crucially, gives our editorial and technical teams even greater insight.”
The One Deadly Weekend VR trailer was developed by BBC Three in collaboration with virtual reality studio Parable VR. It was commissioned by BBC Three controller Damian Kavanagh, who will be taking on an additional role as editorial lead for BBC Taster, working closely with BBC Research & Development.
