For both audiences and the brands that want to connect with them, immersive experiences are becoming increasingly in demand. When you consider their potential impact, it’s obvious why; the deep absorption and emotional connection an immersive experience creates is not only powerful, it has the ability to make people feel as though they have been transported to a different world.
Imagine an immersive F1 experience where the surrounding space gives you the sensation of driving around Silverstone, or a gym space where the walls around you transform your time on the exercise bike to the thrill of cycling down a French mountain, and you’ll get a feel for just how exciting immersive experiences can be.
And can this kind of deep immersion be created by projection? Yes, it can!
Immersive projection is exciting, memorable, and more achievable for you or your brand than you may think (at least when professionals – like us – are involved!). In this post, we’ll get into what immersive projection is, how it works, and why it’s such an incredible method for engrossing your audience.
What is immersive projection?
Immersive projection is a projection technique that creates a truly captivating experience through projection. Going beyond images projected onto walls, this style of projection can incorporate floors, ceilings, and/ or other surfaces to make viewers feel fully immersed. Vivid animated visuals designed to engage and mesmerise are created and mapped to envelope a space and those within it.
This projection technique is an excellent tool in social engagement, thanks to its inherent WOW factor that leads to people capturing and sharing on their social media channels. For this reason, immersive projection is often sought after for marketing strategies to help brands create truly memorable and attention-grabbing experiences.
How immersive projection works
Immersive projection cannot be simply defined or described; it’s all about the feeling and experience, rather than the specifics. It can transform any space, anywhere, into a whole new world, and therefore, the possibilities for a successful immersive result are endless.
A room made to look like an underwater world with animated ocean visuals on every surface will work differently from a towering display on multiple vast screens in an event space. Both can immerse the viewer, but the process for making them happen will differ. However, there are several essentials necessary for immersive projection to succeed.
Mapping
All immersive projection includes expert mapping with specialised software to achieve the effect the client is looking for.
Sometimes, it will be about mapping all four walls within a room or building to transform it into something else entirely, and making visitors feel involved in a new world. At Park Row restaurant in London, for example, we transformed a private dining room into an immersive space, with the guests able to choose what was projected onto the walls, from Gotham City’s skyline to a galaxy of stars. This personalised the room for the specific dining party or guests, and was done in a way so no one could interrupt the projection with their bodies, causing shadows and ruining the immersive illusion.
Other immersive projects, however, may not take place in a room but instead encapsulate entire spaces or feature projection cast onto grand and unique surfaces. Immersion doesn’t need to come at you from all sides to capture attention; when done right by experts, it can be created anywhere. We are highly experienced in mapping a wide array of surfaces, textures, and objects in all manner of sizes, to help showcase the most unforgettable immersive projection experiences.
Projectors
Multiple projectors will be used in projects of this type to build a genuinely immersive experience. For many projects, providing a seamless visual is key to not breaking the effect, which requires several projectors set up to avoid obstacles, such as light fixtures, columns, and people. If the illusion is fractured, guests may not feel properly immersed in the experience, too aware of the environment to lose themselves in the display.
Content
The content created for projection must be of the utmost quality. High resolution allows for unbelievable displays, which is essential for producing that fully immersive experience. Our team have the know-how and software to produce exceptional content best suited for projection, but we’re also happy to use assets provided by clients or their agencies to build the scene.
Interactive elements
In some cases, immersion calls for interactive or dynamic elements to boost its effects. Movement, proximity, and touch can all trigger visual transitions and other creative effects, all done via various sensors and techniques. We’ll work with you to identify if introducing interactive and dynamic projection to your immersive project will benefit it, and the best course of action to take if so.
Why people want immersive experiences
Sometimes, people love to be transported from reality or the norm, if only for a moment. An immersive experience can provide a sort of escape, if that is the intention, creating a new world for them to exist in for a while. Professional projection with expert mapping can create these spaces for people to lose themselves in, leaving them with a sense of wonder and awe.
Immersive experiences are also a novelty. When done well, they can be used to provide something truly different to viewers, targeting that part of the mind that seeks the unique. This makes immersive projection perfect for making content that can be consumed differently, instantly making it more engaging and memorable.
If part of your goal is to create a sense of community, immersive experiences can provide viewers with a sense of togetherness as they view or exist within the visuals as one. Award shows, museum exhibits, and more can utilise this to bring their attendees or guests together.
People love stories, and immersive projection is a fantastic tool in storytelling. From telling literal stories through incredible projections onto the vast outer wall of a grand building, to showcasing your brand’s journey in a new and fresh style, telling a story through immersion puts your creativity on display and once again offers something memorable.
What does an immersive experience look like?
A great example of an immersive experience that didn’t include several walls to envelope its viewers is the work we did on The Queens Hotel in Leeds for Christmas. Working with other creative agencies, we successfully showcased a brilliant Christmas animation on the front of the hotel, facing the popular Christmas market. The projection lasted for 8 minutes and was projected 107 times over 11 days, capturing the attention and the hearts of locals, tourists, and the media. This vibrant and exciting display had people mesmerised, fully immersed in the story of the gingerbread man, creating a perfectly magical evening.
Our work for long-standing client Epson for ISE (Integrated Systems Europe), a world-renowned annual tech show held annually in Barcelona, is another exciting example of what can be done with immersive projection. We projected Epson’s bright and colourful visuals onto a 7.5 metre umbrella, which towered over visitors inside the convention space. It was a huge statement, garnering press shots and starting a queue of people who wanted to get photos underneath. Not only did it showcase how projection can be mapped to all manner of shapes, sizes, and structures, but it also created an immersive experience without standard walls. At the same event, we also projected onto a large coffee cup fixture above the coffee area, to add something special and eye-catching while people refuelled.
Immersive projection mapping by Motion Mapping
If you’re ready to launch something unforgettable through immersive projection, don’t hesitate to get in touch. We have the state-of-the-art equipment and software, as well as many years of experience and industry knowledge, to create the experience you’re looking for.
Talk to us about your project goals, and we’ll discover together what could work best for you, delivering you the incredible results you’re looking for, be that a display to draw in paying crowds or an experience to entertain the public and turn you into a talking point. Call us on 01206 586 277, and let’s get started today.