Australia’s White Spark launches virtual reality tech business Surround Sync

Surround Sync (Source: White Spark)

Perth-based production and VR company White Spark Pictures has launched a new technology business that aims to allow hundreds of viewers to experience virtual reality experiences at the same time.

Surround Sync, which is being led by White Spark’s COO and MD Benn Ellard, will be responsible for the delivery of its patent-pending Surround Sync technology to cinemas and other venues around the world, as well as distributing third-party VR films and immersive content.

The new business will also sell existing and future VR films produced by White Spark, with Surround Sync exploring investment opportunities to expand its international operations.

The new tech claims to be a first-of-its-kind technology that delivers shared immersive experiences at scale by simultaneously synchronising cinema theatre screens and surround sound with hundreds of VR headsets.

It aims to be a cost-effective solution for cinema operators, sidestepping the need for significant investment while leveraging existing cinema venues and infrastructure.

White Spark has, to date, been 360° VR documentary films The Antarctica Experience and Beyond the Milky Way, which have been available within museums in Australia and abroad.

Ellard said: “The entertainment industry is on the cusp of a new wave, with audiences increasingly anticipating a greater involvement in the content they enjoy and having a profound desire to share those experiences.

“Virtual reality fits the bill and is an incredibly powerful and inspiring storytelling – or as we say, storyliving – medium. But, until now, the technology just hadn’t been there to deliver stories to mass audiences. Surround Sync changes all of that and we know from our early positive conversations with people in the industry, the opportunities are limitless.”

Briege Whitehead, Surround Sync’s CEO and White Spark Pictures’ founder and creative director, added: “For almost a decade, White Spark Pictures has been developing new creative skills, producing world class 360° content and evolving our proprietary Surround Sync technology to enable the best possible immersive experience for mass audiences – and significantly, testing it, time and again.

“Now, with proven technical and commercial success, the time is right to officially launch the new Surround Sync business. Surround Sync technology is a vital enabler and marrying it with exciting new content and fabulous cinema venues will prove a major step-change for an entertainment industry always looking for the next big thing and truly remarkable audience experiences.”

Whitehead founded White Spark in 2017, with the company made up of two divisions: one producing factual content for the international television market and one harnessing the latest technology and filming techniques to produce VR, immersive and interactive films.