REWIND

Client: BBC Studios Digital
Product: VR
Title: Home: A VR Spacewalk
Media: Online & Digital
Country: United Kingdom
Date Of Campaign: Summer 2017

Background: The BBC had a long history of innovation in how it informed, educated and entertained.The corporation wanted to explore and understand the new medium of VR in order to examine its potential for storytelling.

Idea: 'Home' was a collaboration between REWIND and BBC Studios Digital, BBC Studios Science and BBC Learning.It was an epic 15-minute immersive virtual reality experience in which the user traversed the International Space Station, went out on the Canadarm and jetpacked back to safety.(S)he was at the centre of an experience of beautiful and heart-stopping moments in which visual fidelity was accompanied by equally authentic spatial audio.The ISS was constructed with absolute fidelity to the original and built to real-world scale.Bluetooth heart-rate monitors fed back the sound of users' own heartbeats. This was combined with an integrated live mic that delivered back into the experience, creating the claustrophobia of the astronaut's helmet and the unnerving sounds of her body and space suit's life support system.A gaming chair was also used to provide haptic feedback. Finally, for selected live viewings, a live voice actor who was able to ad-lib from the script was incorporated, conversing with the player and observing and responding to their predicament.

Results: 'Home' was a pioneering experience, which led the way creative people both within and outside the BBC began to consider the possibilities of VR. New horizons in education and entertainment began to open up.The experience won six awards before its release including Best Interactive VR Experience at Byron Bay Film festival.The experience puts you 240 miles above earth, moving at 17,000 miles an hour.Your mission is to leave the safety of the Space Station and walk out into space in order to inspect what damage has been done to it by space debris.