Wevr's Transport Platform Helps VR Creators Make Content
With several virtual reality headsets already available in the market, most of the content available so far is geared towards the gaming applications of the technology. Other types of content such as VR short films and music videos are not as many. The rationale behind the creation of the Transport platform is to provide a venue for the use of VR in cinematic storytelling. The platform was established by California-based start-up Wevr, after it was able to raise over $25 million from different investors to jumpstart VR content creation, according to a Variety report.
When Wevr launched Transport in February this year, only a limited number of users were testing the platform with free content on offer from Wevr and selected content partners. Wevr itself is known for its VR creations such as "TheBlu: Encounter" and "Gone." "TheBlu" is an immersive VR experience that has the viewer come face-to-face with a giant whale while in a sunken ship. "Gone" on the other hand is serialized drama which Wevr produced with Skybound Entertainment and Samsung.
Wevr intends the Transport platform to eventually make high-quality VR content available through different VR headsets and even through the web. This content can be for sale but it is also exploring other ways to get content out such as having sponsored content. According to the co-founder and EVP of Wevr Anthony Batt, they will also be looking at exclusives because "Exclusivity matters."
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The Transport platform is turning out to be a boon for VR creators. According to a report in Tech Times, game developers such as Tyler Hurd are creating non-gaming content. Hurd's reactive music video "Old Friend" features the song "Old Friend" by Future Islands' which Hurd's described as a "three-minute music video that is just geared toward making people excited with animation and bright colors." To create the music video, he accessed a $50,000 grant from OnWevr, a program that funds and supports VR creatives to create content for the platform.
Aside from Hurd's work, Wevr also produced a VR episode of the horror anthology "Holidays" which features Seth Green as a dad desperate to buy a new VR headset for his son for the holidays, and "Hard World for Small Things," which looks at how a tragedy in Los Angeles affects the lives of people.
Wevr is currently available on Steam VR and will be released for Android smartphones, at Oculus Rift retail outlets and through Google Play and iTunes as a cardboard app.
