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“Our desire is to bring new artists to the creative XR scene” – Albert Millis, Samantha Kingston (Virtual Umbrella)

Mathieu Gayet

With their company Virtual Umbrella, Albert Millis and Samantha Kingston have been accompanying brands and events in new virtual territories for over 7 years. For the past months, they have continued their work with XR creators by accompanying certain works such as the LGBTQ+ Museum at Tribeca, or by directly programming various festivals in the UK.

(and we thank them for answering our questions in the middle of their move to a new home a few weeks ago!)

Virtual Umbrella, from 2015

Samantha Kingston – In 2014, when we graduated, Albert and I had started working for different companies in the UK that were already interested in immersive technologies – and especially in video games (nDreams, Opposable Games…). We met through these common subjects, while developing marketing and communication campaigns around the projects that were coming out. And it was a time when XR was starting: no real consumer headset available, no online platform, first titles in their infancy… It was mandatory to be interested in events that were starting to select VR games. As early as 2015, without having a big idea of what’s coming up, it was obvious to us that this strange “creative niche” that was VR needed marketing reinforcement and help with events. That’s how we founded Virtual Umbrella (link). Right after, we were lucky to be invited to E3 (in Los Angeles), and started our business that way.

2016: The Beginning

Albert Millis – We were fortunate to be able to observe the early days of a particularly creative VR industry, and one that is growing very fast. In the early days, we talked to a lot of people in the video game industry. But we really wanted to accompany the immersive industry in a more global way – and that included the events associated with it. In February 2016 (link), we were able to accompany our first festival in London, VRUK Festival with a great team. From there, we developed our activities, whether it was producing events, marketing, being consultants for brands, or more specialist things like setting up 400 Quest 2 and sending them around the world… basically helping other people promote their own work into the immersive industry.

How to Start A Startup: The History Of Virtual Umbrella (Uploadvr.com, 2016)

Onboarding people into the immersive world

A. M. – The XR industry has evolved significantly in recent years. At the beginning, there was a desire to democratize these technologies with a lot of intensive promotion and activations at international events like the Mobile World Congress (MWC). There was a taste of something new, of a technological revolution. And that’s what pushed us to think about the marketing aspect of all this, the transmission to a wider public. With the maturity of the XR industry, and the support for arts and creation (especially here in the UK where the industry is very strong), there is a real field of exploration for us. Especially alongside our work for more established brands.

BFI London Film Festival – LFF Expanded 2021

S. K. – … and this is where it’s hard to really define our scope of work, as there are so many things we work on. We define our approach as “creative services”, which means solving all kinds of problems for our clients, from web design to technology consultants, or event or content production: “we help businesses tap into the commercial and creative potential of immersive technology”. We help other companies move forward in this sector, and at the same time each assignment for us is particularly exciting to learn a little more about our business.

A. M. – In the early years of virtual reality, it was easy to get people to discover new experiences without preconceived ideas. The “buzz” of innovation and new narratives was enough most of the time. Today, our job is mainly to highlight the important points of our industry, while continuing to explain our business, the content. There is always a strong motivation to use the medium, but between the desire to produce content (even promotional) and the technological, material and logistical implications, there is a gap. Choosing a headset? Which online store or LBE set up? Is there a venue involved? That’s where we can step in. We take a project from “cool” to the concrete details that it may involve.

S. K. – And this is also true because technology evolves very quickly! So our role does not stop at involvement in projects, but also in monitoring the industry to identify new hardware or software that could help us, the vocabulary used… The explosion of the word “metaverse” i.e. was not as simple as that, as it was beneficial to meet new customers, new desires, while creating huge frustrations on the potential it could generate – within the limitations of existing virtual worlds. The 2020 pandemic reinforced the idea of experiences accessible to all, with online experiences being the priority – the return to the physical was then done gradually.

Open City Documentary Festival – Expanded Realities 2021

Making their own path into the industry

A. M. – Accessibility, comfort and safety have always been essential criteria in our work, at all levels, to embark people in the proposed experiences. But some discussions with our clients can lead to extensive technical research to better understand the broadcasting conditions. For example, considering the use of sound rather than image, customizing uses… It is interesting to remember that in our early days the installations were massive, with big computers etc. Today our setups are not always simple, but the equipment is lighter, easier to transport. This is an important part of our work. And as everything is moving very fast, we will never be experts in anything! We continue to learn with each mission.

S. K. – Today we work with cultural events as well as brands, advertising agencies, creative studios… For the past two years, it has been clear to us that we want to work on projects that really interest us. This is how the XR industry is built, with real involvement. We could accept all the missions that are proposed to us, but I think we would lose a bit of ourselves by doing that. The human aspect is essential, the pleasure of the collaborations too, while advancing in this sector.

A. M. – Virtual Umbrella was not created with the primary idea of making money. Of course, we can support independent projects through our work with brands or agencies – and maintain an obvious economic balance. The pandemic has had a real impact financially of course but it highlighted the fact that we had to move forward with our passion for the medium.

“Marketing your company with VR”, by Samantha (Twitter, 2019)

Producing LGBTQ+ VR MUSEUM at Tribeca 2022

A. M. – In May 2021, while speaking at UCL (University College London), I was offered to run the immersive programming for their Open City Documentary Festival: Expanded Realities. They offered me to manage a budget where it would be possible to commission works, to pay artists for their work. It was the first time this had happened to me! So I worked on a small selection of projects, including one proposed by Antonia Forster (link), LGBTQ+ VR MUSEUM. She shared on Twitter her progress, her collaborations with Thomas Terkildsen and others. She presented the LGBTQ+ VR Museum in September 2021 in our festival, and it was the beginning of a real discussion and a long-term support.

A. M. – When Tribeca contacted her, it was requested that she produce it on location so she reached out to me for help with this. Although I was initially going to do it alone, it quickly became clear that I needed more support, so I brought Samantha on board, and we went to New York! In the end it’s more of a personal collaboration than a Virtual Umbrella mission.

Curating the XR arts

S. K. – I hope to be able to program more events. It’s a great opportunity to combine our technological expertise and to meet the creators. The next step would be to intervene in the production of some content, in connection with the festivals we collaborate with. Creating our own works, expressing ourselves directly as well, while continuing to support creators. It is always our desire to help creators.

A. M. – Programming, choosing the works, producing some of them: these have always been the parts of our work in the festival. Even today we love to watch it all from our point of view backstage, to see the audience arrive and enjoy what we offer them. Our work with Antonia has confirmed that the artists’ point of view is very important to us. The work with events is very important, but I would sum it up by our desire to bring new artists to the creative scene. That’s definitely what we want to do more of in the future.

Open City Documentary Festival 2022 – Extended Realities (September, 7-13 – link)

Interactive Documentaries :

360 Cinema :

Interactive Projects :

Aesthetica Film Festival (ASFF – November, 1-30 – link)

Virtual Reality Lab :

In this article

Virtual Umbrella

Publication:

Author:

Mathieu Gayet

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