From 8 to 19 May, Orange lit up the 70th Cannes Film Festival with its VOD Virtual Reality service.
As an official partner of the Cannes, Orange made its debut appearance at Next, the innovation hub at the Marché du Film. The Group showed off its Orange VR Experience platform, the latest VR content and awarded the first Orange XR grants.
The French multinational telecommunications corporation has been developing augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) since 2016, and aims to aid customers in these new uses by offering unique experiences via its powerful high-speed broadband network.
Orange offers a wide variety of VR content (films, sporting events, documentaries) through its Orange VR Experience platform, along with a huge selection of 360° video experiences via the Orange Cinéma Séries (OCS) catalogue.
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“Orange’s strength as an operator lies in proposing innovative content. This is possible through aggregating immersive content on dedicated platforms via agreements with rights holders such as production studios,” says Edwige Henry, Head of Partnerships and Digital communication in the Orange Content Communication and Partnerships directorate.
At the Next innovation hub the group presented its Orange VR Experience platform and highlighted its partnership with production studios including Wevr, which presented its new VR productions TheBlu Season 1 and Irrational Exuberance during the NEXT Official B2B cocktail reception. The BABOAB studio unveiled its new virtual reality experience Crow: The Legend, which features the voice of Oprah Winfrey.
The evening also provided Orange the opportunity to announce the winners of its XR 2018 grant. The grant, which is the result of a collaboration between Orange and the lBeaumarchais-SACD , association, promotes new talent and experiences, rewarding three VR, AR or mixed reality projects.
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“The use of immersive techniques opens up whole new perspectives in terms of writing,” says Henry. “From considering off-camera to sound, entirely new ways of staging content will emerge.”
Orange and the Cannes
Orange has been an official partner of the Cannes Festival for over two decades. The group is deeply committed to backing French and European film in all its variety. With its subsidiary Orange Studio, Orange turns that commitment into reality by co-producing and buying films. Orange Studio works on approximately 10 films each year and has obtained emblematic catalogues. It has put in long-term labor to construct a high-quality offer. Orange is also celebrating the tenth anniversary of the creation of OCS, its 100% cinema and series channels. The group supports French and European film creation through agreements with the film industry on pre-purchases of films and support for theatre screenings.
About the VR market
The virtual reality arena is valued at $7.9 billion this year and expected to reach $34.08 billion by 2023, according to a February Research and Markets study. Increasing use of VR in gaming and entertainment is cited as the major revenue driver.
