Unframed Collection, the first immersive distribution platform (Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality) dedicated to cultural venues, defends the ambition of better structuring the LBE (Location based entertainment) distribution market by offering an editorialized catalog of immersive works and services and tools specially designed for venues to facilitate the deployment of immersive devices.
Supported by Europe Creative, the CNC, BPI France and SMECF (Taiwan), this new platform is the brainchild of Lucid Realities, a pioneering production company in the field of digital creative industries. In response to strong public interest in these new forms of experience, and the need for cultural venues to boost their digital offerings, Lucid Realities has created innovative distribution models in collaboration with cultural institutions.
From the outset of Lucid Realities, I wanted to give a central place to distribution issues. Our productions take a radical departure from video games, and focus on narratives around art, science and culture in the broadest sense. Our strategy has been to involve cultural institutions (such as museums) as co-producers, but also as venues, giving access to these creations created for virtual reality headsets. This is how we came to co-produce several works with major French institutions such as the Musée d’Orsay, the Centre des Monuments Nationaux and the Louvre Lens. This strategy enables us to obtain an initial distribution window for our works, to label them thanks to the involvement of these institutions’ teams in the production phase, and also to better understand the operating issues linked to the presentation of immersive works.
Chloé Jarry, CEO of Unframed Collection & Lucid Realities
Unframed Collection offers an editorialized, premium catalog of VR/AR works on themes such as fine art, science, history, the environment, contemporary art and social issues. In addition, our teams provide a range of tailor-made services for cultural venues: software solutions to facilitate remote control of virtual reality headsets (via tablets or PCs), technical resources and mediation guides, consulting missions and personalized support for the deployment of in situ projects.
Our many LBE experiences have brought us face to face with the recurring obstacles and problems encountered in the field. Poor knowledge of tools, poorly trained supervisory staff, ill-adapted systems, fragile business models… We wanted to offer solutions to these problems by developing a range of tools and documentation adapted to our partners’ working methods. At the same time, we refined our own operating models, optimizing traffic management while ensuring a quality visitor experience. Pricing, and in particular the amount of fees to be charged to institutions, has been the subject of intense reflection and discussion with our partners. Today, we are proposing several pricing formulas that can be adapted to their specific needs, while ensuring transparent revenues and remuneration models for rights holders.
Alexandre Roux, Director of Strategy Development at Unframed Collection
To subscribe to the service, venues will be required to pay €25 incl. VAT/month (special introductory offer), which will give them access, with certain exceptions, to the catalog’s test experiments and to the various documentation and tools made available to them. The public use/distribution of the works in the catalog will be subject to additional pricing based on two distinct models: a cost per minute viewed, or a flat fee calculated according to the nature of the system set up (duration, number of VR headsets, etc.). In both cases, the site will first be required to purchase credit packs (1 credit = €0.10), which will be debited according to the number of minutes consumed or a flat-rate amount. A 30-day free trial is available to discover the service.
For libraries, media libraries and educational institutions, a special annual subscription offer has been designed in partnership with the Carel network. Available on request by sending an e-mail to distribution@unframed-collection.com.
A SUCCESSFUL FINAL EXHIBITION!
The presentation of the VR experience “Van Gogh’s Palette “* as part of the major exhibition “Van Gogh à Auvers-sur-Oise. Les derniers mois” (October 3, 2023 – February 4, 2024) at the Musée d’Orsay attracted over 40,000 visitors! Unframed Collection’s teams were responsible for the installation and mediation.
* Directed by Agnès Molia and Gordon, Coprod. Lucid Realities, TSVP, Musée d’Orsay and VIVE Arts.
To date, some fifty VR/AR experiences are referenced on the platform, but this number is likely to grow rapidly. Nevertheless, we will select works that are particularly well suited to this type of exploitation. In the medium term, we’d like to set up independent selection committees comprising artists and decision-makers from cultural and institutional venues. An online form enables rights holders to submit their work(s), which will then be tested and selected by our teams.
Unframed Collection is also a platform of documentary resources highlighting trends in the cultural immersive sector. Creator portraits, exhibition reviews and practical advice will be published weekly to encourage knowledge-sharing and strengthen links between the various players in the sector.
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