Creating the Immersive Experience Industry

At Technicolor, we believe that our company is at the point of yet another transformation – building on a long series of successful transformations that have sharpened our innovative edge for more than 100 years.

During the next few years we will evolve from being a leader in the creative technology sector to becoming a pioneer in the creative experience industry. It is the reason why we are putting so much time and effort behind the Technicolor Experience Center (TEC) as a transversal function that not only brings together our immersive media initiatives across the company, but also serves as a center of excellence for partners and customers across the immersive content creation, distribution and consumption value-chain.

Our work is already moving beyond our traditional VFX/post-production work, as we explore how our skills, talent and technology can be applied in sectors such as retail, travel, leisure and many others.

That is just how transformative we think these evolving immersive VR, AR and MR experiences will be to our business – and indeed to the economy as a whole.

We think this same type of transformation – and opportunity – very likely lies in store for most companies that share the creative technology space with Technicolor.

The TEC has been designed to serve as a forum where radical and ambitious ideas about the future of content are formed, realized and then brought to market.

From this perspective, the TEC is about how our shared destiny is colliding with the broad forces of history. This is what I mean. Just as silent movies were destined to become talkies, and color would inevitably supplant black-and-white films, I believe immersive experiences will leave an even more indelible mark on our culture.

To take advantage of this, however, we have to keep an open mind. It would be easy, if you are involved in the film business, to conclude that you are in the entertainment field.

But as someone once said long ago: “You would be wrong. We are, in fact, in the travel business. For the price of admission, people, can for a couple of hours, be transported anywhere in the world. It’s the best ticket in town.”

We do not yet know the full implications of where future VR, AR and MR experiences will take us. But I feel confident in saying that it will be a mistake to underestimate -- or think narrowly about -- their implications.

So what does this mean?

We – all of us working in immersive experiences together – have a unique opportunity to think on a vast scale about how we can create an ecosystem that transcends how we think about today’s industries.

Why? Because when you think about it, the totality of our lives – digital or otherwise – are a collection of experiences – whether they are experiences driving, experiences in culinary delight, romantic experiences, etc.

Good experiences tend to be immersive. And immersive experiences tend to be impactful.

Creating memorable experiences requires teamwork and community because they are a function of how environment, choice and activity interact. It is a very complex concept.

Designing and delivering immersive experiences will require a massive convergence of artistic, technological and economic talent. They will have to come together productively.

That is why the TEC has been formed. It is designed to be a practical place where we take theoretical constructs and move systematically to tactical implementation through a creative and dynamic process of experimentation.

This is not a debate society. It is a doing center. We hope you will join the TEC in continuing to engage in: creative conversations that have purposeful objectives; experimental activities that yield tangible projects; new relationships that lead to productive partnerships.