Meta
Rift Transformation Campaign
Virtual Insanity
Commercial Spots
CAMPAIGN VIDEOS
Edge of Nowhere
Climb
Lucky’s Tale
THE CHALLENGE
Capture the Magic of VR
Back in 1995, Nintendo dropped upon the world the first consumer nod to modern VR: The Virtual Boy. It didn’t really take off, not in part due to the red and black color palette – that was rad. A decade later, Oculus has kickstarted VR with killer tech and is making moves to put the experience in the palm of everyone’s hands. And of course, they needed an equally killer campaign to show it off. But how do you sell something that fundamentally needs to be experienced? The only answer is to capture the sensation of stepping into an alternate reality. In a commercial. We know commercials.
OUR APPROACH
Get Hooked on a Feeling
To experience the wizardry of The Rift vicariously, we need to witness the pure awe on our hero gamers’ faces. While Cyclops and The Dread Pirate Roberts did just fine, we needed to get creative around emoting with most of the users’ faces covered. Reality reconstructs around them right as their PCs power up. Their respective VR game worlds–Edge of Nowhere, The Climb and Lucky’s Tale– blur wondrously with their surroundings to both mimic the immersive sensation and allow for interaction inside and out of The Rift.
WORLD BUILDING
Anticipating the Rift
We pulled elements from each game into the real world settings of our VR first-timers. Every shot was tracked, with match moved furniture providing the foundation for our CG elements to flourish. From stone pushing out of dry-wall, to grass growing in between the cracks of a keyboard, we R&Ded the hell out of this to find the best moments for bringing the anticipatory gameworld to life.
Recreating Gameplay
Capturing the Reality of Virtual Reality
It takes a lot of computing power to render what is effectively 2 different screens, one for each eye, at 90 frames a second. Games have to be optimized, like a lot. But when you’re in VR, the game world feels so very real, it’s hard to quantify. We worked with the developers of each IP to elevate their gameplay, recreating cross sections of their levels to serve as a cinematic of what the gameplay feels like.
THE OUTCOME
The VR Revolution Will Be Televised
Warm breath expands as the gamer’s room chills to blizzard temps. Light shafts open overhead. Grass, moss and forestry grow around a keyboard. It reflects the way a user’s brain elevates the Rift’s gameplay to create a more perfect reality. No joke, VR really feels like you could reach out and touch something. It warranted us to say “Not Actual Gameplay,” but allowed us to get closer to the feeling of being in the Rift. It’s no replacement, and as Grandpa used to say: Close only counts in horseshoes and handgrenades.
