K-Content News

“Nine VR: Come See Me” at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival is a spin-off that utilizes the narrative of the original drama. Nine VR is, in short, an immersive VR theater experience.

The audience, in pairs of two, directly participates in one of the scenes from the drama, recreated in the form of virtual reality. There are a variety of choices in front of them, and depending on the choices they make, the narrative is a little different. The choices of the two viewers eventually become one story, which leads to the ending.

“Most VR content is an experience for only one person, but this experience was made to be shared by two people,” Nine VR producer Hyun Min-ah (graduate student of the KARTS professional program) explained.

Hyun continued by explaining how the Immersive VR Theater allows the users’ choices to determine the ending. To make the experience possible, Hyun had to go through a process of trials and errors during the planning of the Nine VR project. A lot of thought was needed in order to reconstruct the drama in the virtual space. The creators asked themselves questions such as, “What things need to be carried over from the drama?”

They also discussed the point of view and role of the VR character and other such issues.

In particular, since the VR experience is only 10 minutes or less in length (unlike long dramas), much thought was given to how to make an impact in a short amount of time by utilizing the original source material.

Hyun went to 10 escape rooms with her team to try to incorporate escape room content into the project. According to Hyun, “Well-made escape rooms use probable situations. I thought a lot about how I could tell which character I was whenever I wore my VR headset.”

Hyun went through a series of trials and errors and gained a deeper understanding of the importance of technological expertise as she converted existing materials to VR.

When creating a VR program, it is necessary to decide which parts of the original content should be eliminated and which parts should be kept to make the VR scene function properly. For example, there may be a scene in which the stars fall from the night sky and the ground splits. When translating this same scene into VR, you have to make realistic choices and consider what is technological possible and what is not.

Hyun explains, “VR content cannot simply be created because the story or the material is attractive; it is always necessary to think about how the VR scenes could be combined and constructed. You have to build an entire system to do each scene correctly.”

Nine VR was created as part of a collaboration with the Korea National University of Arts (KARTS),

ManiaMind, and the CJ Institute of Future Technology Management. These organizations worked together on “Contents ONE Campus Project Planning and Operation,” hosted by the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA).

The Contents ONE Campus project is a project-based learning (PBL) initiative that brings together content development-focused groups from universities, companies, and research institutes. Projects conducted under this initiative must be led by colleges, and students who participate in the projects must be awarded college credits upon completion.

In fact, universities who participate in these types of projects must open two or three project-related courses allowing students to earn a total of six credits. Each course must include classes and require that students complete a single or multiple collaborative projects. Open lectures and seminars can be held for the remainder of the non-formal course hours. A mentoring program may also be optionally provided in order to facilitate project completion.

KARTS' Nine VR is one of the most successful projects ever completed under the Contents ONE Campus initiative. Participating students were particularly impressed by the availability of new equipment that is not provided by their university. While working on the project, students had the opportunity to use expensive equipment such as optical tracking, marker-based sensing equipment, motion capture equipment, and tracking equipment. The students said that it was something they wouldn’t have had been able to experience even after starting work upon graduation.

Representatives from music academies, theaters, and art schools participated in the Nine VR production process as well. Hyun, the producer of Nine VR, recognized the value of the experience, saying, “Collaboration with professionals in other fields allowed us to see the project from different perspectives, and our preconceptions about equipment operation were transformed into knowledge.”

She continued by adding, “Students who participate in the project gain expertise in the field by collaborating with participating research institutes and companies. Instead of learning theories, they not only receive practical training but also gain valuable hands-on experience by making real content.”