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Nine VR: Come See Me KARTS Collaborates with the Contents ONE Campus Korea National University of Arts Industry-University Cooperation Administration
  • October 10, 2019

Nine VR: Come See Me
KARTS Collaborates with the Contents ONE Campus
Korea National University of Arts Industry-University Cooperation Administration

Imagine that you could go back in time nine times. At each crossroads, you must make a choice, and live a new life. This is what the main character experiences in the television drama, Nine: Traveling Through Time. The drama was recently turned into a virtual reality experience in which participants can wear a VR headset and experience the drama as if they were the main character. The story that unfolds changes slightly depending on the choices made by the VR user.

By reporter Kim Tae-hwan, Money Today Network, kimthin@mtn.co.kr

“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.

Choose the Ending: Immersive VR Theater

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?”

“Nine VR: Come See Me” uses the escape room concept. ⓒKorea National University of Arts

Hyun Min-ah producing VR content.

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.”

Technological Understanding Enhances the Final VR Product

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.”

A Collaborative Project Completed at the Contents ONE Campus

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

VR content produced by Korea Creative Content Agency’s “KOCCA Day” are being presented. ⒸKorea Creative Content Agency

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.

A New Perspective on Content

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.”

INTERVIEW
VR is a fascinating field of telling stories with space

Hyun Min-ah, KARTS Film Institute Specialist Producer

What inspired you to create VR content?

I’ve always loved games. I worked so hard at gaming that I was even able to go to competitions. I was also interested in programming, and I worked briefly as a developer. VR is an intriguing medium in that it uses space to tell stories, which is interesting to me. A VR-related track was created while I was attending the graduate school at the Korea National University of Arts. After attending a number of related classes, the Contents ONE Campus project started and got funding.

What are your predictions for the VR market?

Those who work in VR expect the market to grow enormously starting at the end of next year. Mobile carriers are promoting 5G mobile services and content, and are expanding their supply of VR devices (HMD). So far, 5G mobile telecommunications services have been unstable. However, once these services are stabilized, VR will be most suitable content for them.

It seems that VR content has yet to gain a lot of attention. What are your thoughts about this?

You can think of it like the Spring and Autumn period in China. Content is now created at a much faster pace than in the past. Trends used to last a year, but now a new trend comes on the scene every 3 months. A great number of people are quickly learning and discovering VR.

Many people have been disappointed with VR in the past…

Taiwan's VR work, which was exhibited at the recently held Bucheon Fantastic Film Festival, was extremely realistic with 8K image quality. In the past, it’s not that the content was low in quality, but rather that we lacked the necessary technology. Now, we have the tech needed to make VR indistinguishable from reality.

How would you describe the success of the KARTS students?

In 2018, they won First Prize (Shake up!) and the Award of Excellence (Tiger, Bear, and Me) in the V-round category of the Virtual Reality Video Contest, which was a KOCCA event. Both award-winning projects were designed and produced by students who took classes held as part of the Contents ONE Campus collaboration.

How do you overcome difficulties when creating content?

As with any project, it often involves all-nighters, especially at the end of the project. Working with other organizations or companies means you end up in all-night discussions. Everybody needs to take care of their health during a project. However, the hardest thing isn’t the intensity of the work or the difficulty—it’s attracting investors. Investors are selected during production, so everything becomes driven by money and deadlines. If there are not enough investments, it may be difficult to continue the project. It is especially difficult when you can't find investors when you need them.

What are your future plans?

VR producers also play a role as communicators. The technical language, the creator language, and the investor language are all different. Producers are the ones who function in the middle as translators. I plan to continue playing my role as producer. My next project will be quick and light. In Korea, it takes a long time to plan everything out and to continue until completion. Yet, VR technology is being developed at such fast pace that content often seems old by the time production is finished. Next time, I want to make lighter, more pleasant content.