An immersive entertainment medium must be capable of telling a compelling story and of conveying: the buzz of a live sporting event, the atmosphere of a rock concert, the emotion of news report, the social engagement of a drama and the awe of a mountain landscape.  In short, it needs to recreate a wide range of real-world cues to such an extent that viewers feel that they are experiencing reality. We cannot do this with a tablet; we need a large screen or head-mounted display, we need 3D audio, we need body tracking and we may even need haptics and olfaction.

The future of such media is about understanding how new technology can match and manipulate our senses to evoke yet more compelling feelings of ‘being there’. And it is no small matter to produce entertaining content, to deliver it to viewers, and to ensure that it doesn’t make them sick!

In his presentation, Dr. Lodge will look at the technology and psychology which is driving today’s immersive systems forwards: VR-360, 8k UHDTV, high dynamic range, wide color-gamut, high frame-rate video, light fields, volumetric capture and point clouds.

Dr. Nicolas Lodge has enjoyed a career leading the research and development of advanced media technologies. He has initiated very many award-winning European broadcast systems and world standards. Throughout the 1990s he was head of strategic R&D for the entire UK commercial TV sector. Following this he was CEO of a successful wireless media start-up and today runs his own consultancy. Nick has BSc, MBA and PhD degrees and is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering & Technology and the Royal Television Society.