Nearly one year after The Walt Disney Company led a $66 million investment round in Jaunt, the entertainment conglomerate is further supporting the virtual reality startup through its Accelerator program, which was announced last month at the Disney Studios in Burbank, California.
The Palo Alto-based movie studio that provides end-to-end solutions and produces short cinematics VR pieces is going behind-the-scenes this season to film ESPN’s College GameDay stops in VR—tailgates, interviews, sideline action, the signs, et al. They also have licensed Disney Research’s VR video technology and will be collaborating with Disney Research to integrate it into Jaunt’s Cloud Services.
“We’re looking to bring commitment to new ideas and new people and technological innovation to our company, and to help them get off the ground by giving them an environment and the kind of support startup companies often need to succeed,” said Disney CEO Bob Iger. “Obviously, there is great mutual benefit for all of us. We are in businesses that are unbelievably dynamic and always changing.”
“We’re happy to discover Jaunt, which creates VR experiences that are so much like being there that ESPN and Disney took notice, took an interest, and got excited,” added ESPN president John Skipper.
George Kliavkoff, who in September was appointed CEO for Jaunt, told [a]listdaily that they’ll be collaborating with every single division of Disney in order to make VR become the next big thing in video.
“For us it’s great because Disney has terrific IPs, and we can match it with our great technology and storytelling together. I honestly can think of a premium content partner that we want to work with,” said Kliavkoff.
With its sights fully set on bringing fans closer to the game and capitalizing on cinematic storytelling, and letting them be their own director, of sorts, ESPN and Jaunt produced a four-minute, 360-degree piece of the Oct. 1 matchup between Clemson and Louisville, immersing viewers inside and outside of Memorial Stadium. Throughout the rest of the season, Jaunt and ESPN crews will be working together to film in VR at the College GameDay stops.
,
Source: alistdaily