Experience is everything and audience demands are higher than ever. Reece Webb explores the world of 5D in leisure and entertainment experiences.
The five senses - sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste, have played a key role in human survival; from hunting prey and avoiding predators on the African steppe as humanity took its first steps, to navigating the hustle and bustle of modern life today, it’s obvious that we experience the world almost exclusively through these senses. Our brains are hard-wired to experience a range of sensations and emotions because of these life-defining traits, and when creating an AV experience of any kind, the aim is to harness one or more of these senses to create a feeling, a sense of space and interaction, and this is amplified into the stratosphere when it comes to leisure and entertainment.
Today, we are not limited to stories acted out and told around the campfire like our ancient ancestors of old; audiences now demand to be thrilled, frightened, and above all, to feel. Enter the world of 5D experiences, a format of entertainment that aims to harness our hard-wired senses to create truly immersive experiences that use our evolutionary superpowers to amaze.
But how do we define 5D? Are these experiences truly harnessing all our senses, or is there a buzzword lurking in the midst?
Kevin Murphy, director of sales and marketing, Kraftwerk Living Technologies, explains: “5D experiences have been around for many years and to make it confusing, there are many companies that utilise everything from 4D to 10D to describe what is in effect a multiple sense, media-based attraction. There is no doubt that 5D is a buzzword with no clear definition,but fundamentally, any 5D experience will take you beyond the all-important immersive visuals and sound, add movement and effects to ‘take you there’ and give an experience that, if done well, makes you feel good and want to come back.
“A media-based attraction includes technology, and it’s generally agreed that a 3D experience involves stereo video along with audio, sight, and sound. 4D experiences add another layer with motion to help take guests on a journey, using a simulator base, a revolver, or 4D motion seats. The use of 5D would normally include the use of other special effects such as scent, and we have ways to change different smells during an experience. This could also include puffs of air, the use of water spray or even leg ticklers to provide even more of an experience. We can even include smoke, mist, rain or tactile ‘pokes’ in seats to the 5D repertoire, but the importance in any experience is ensuring the right effects are used well, and at the right time in the story, and not overused.”
Aaron Bright, lead engineer, Holovis, says: “For us, 5D is a bit of a buzzword. This comes from the cinema world, 3D, and 4XD with lighting and misting. 5D is taking that into an additional realm of sensory effect. We don’t always do cinemas, but we do things like motion platforms, like a ride with projection, as well as the features that you might have from 4D such as misting, heat, wind, and vibrations. Holovis creates experiential solutions for global themed entertainment, visitor attractions and enterprise clients, specialising in creative-design, systems integration, complex AV, interactive and immersive technologies, software development, motion systems and SFX.
“There’s always a lot of our AV equipment integrating with the scenic side of things. We’re often working with a scenic company and practical effects, integrating AV into the scenic world, which is always a big challenge. From the client’s expectation standpoints, it always starts with video. I mainly do work out in the Middle East where the focus is on LED walls as people are mainly out at night when it’s cooler, it’s about that wow factor. Video leads, but the way to capture a guest is a priority so that we can add interaction. We can achieve this through a motion sensor so that when movement is sensed, then a video plays, it’s a basic layer of interaction. You can also look at tracking body movements, facial movements, but it’s mainly video led.”
The Pirates in Batavia water-based dark ride, installed by Kraftwerk LT in Rust, Germany.
Sound at the centre
While each sense can play a key part in this experience, the importance of immersive sound cannot be understated. The human body reacts to sound in ways that transcend just the perception of noise. Sound can affect breathing, heart rate, and even change emotions when applied correctly, a byproduct of our millennia of evolution. While visuals and touch play an important part of the spectacle, it is beyond doubt that effectively using audio can serve as a clever ‘hack’ to generate the precise feeling or experiences within audiences.
Gareth Davies, projects lead, Holoplot, explains: “Typically, people have relied on psychoacoustic effects to trigger certain senses. Using low frequencies for instance can trigger excitement or even fear, for example. This extends to sound localisation and where you perceive a sound source to originate from, sound coming from above or behind you will immediately put you on edge, these are responses passed down from our earliest ancestors. Sound, therefore, can help create a desired atmosphere in a space. Until recently, a sound designer’s tools were limited though interms of adding multiple, distinct audio atmospheres within one space, or playing with proximity as an element of surprise, for example.
The Flyover Chicago Flying Theatre, installed by Kraftwerk LT.
“Our technology has gone beyond this now, opening what’s possible with sound design for these discoverable, multi-layered experienced that, not only include localisation, but also accurately reproduce proximity to sound. Holoplot matrix arrays can use their unique Wave Field Synthesis capabilities to accurately render wavefronts to create virtual audio sources that radiate at a distance far beyond the screen or out into the audience, adding depth to the experience. We are changing the way that the sound canvas works; we can create a precisely located whisper effect, utilising a tightly controlled audio beam, for example. The effects are twofold, by tightly controlling the sound, there is less room excitation, as you’d expect from a quiet sound. This is further supported by the fact it’s a whisper, that the brain tells you should only be perceivable from a very close source.”
When specifying a unique, 5D experience, no ‘cookie cutter’ approach to technology will do. Innovative technologies must be harnessed to create an experience that is worlds away from our typical interactions with sound. Davies continues: “We take away any of the ‘hotspotting’ that you get from a point source or a line array, to create a very even canvas of sound. More of the audience is able to accurately perceive where a sound is coming from, which typically would have been reserved for a much smaller sweet spot. This provides a blank canvas from which to build a soundscape. You cannot do that with conventional technology, because you are limited by the response of the loudspeaker. What we do gives you more freedom to develop immersive, or explorative soundscapes.”
Sound can even be used to combine additional senses, such as touch, to bring an entire new and sophisticated layer to the experience. Luca Bertani, content marketing professional leader, Powersoft, explains: “With some sounds, it’s more of a whole-body experience. When implemented correctly, something like a haptic transducer can bridge that [immersive] gap, so that you don’t have to shake the place excessively with huge subwoofers. It really helps to create suspension of disbelief, you don’t ‘feel’ the vibration, you feel like the haptics are enhancing the experience.
“We care about bridging that gap, enabling attraction designers to have the tools and the precise control to create a tailored experience. ‘Our House’ in Amsterdam is a great example of this, an immersive audiovisual experience in electronic music. The premise is that there is a club that serves as a museum during the day, screening a long playlist that tells the history of electronic music; It is a immersive system that, instead of pushing high volume, focuses on high coverage.
“They have a hydraulic platform that moves up and down where Movers are installed on the dance floor. That is used to add dramatic effect to the drops because the platform will raise according to the music and drop when the music drops, with Mover highlighting certain parts of the tracks, like the bass and the kick drum.”
“Audio is as essential if not more so than image on many media-based attractions,” adds Murphy, “we design systems that put the right sound into all the seats, whether static or moving, which can be a challenge. Where the demands are higher for spatial sound positioning, we use immersive sound systems such as IOSONO which we have successfully used on many projects and most recently on a Flying Theatre project in Chicago and Vancouver. Kraftwerk Living Technologies utilises a very wide range of technology from audio-visual through to motion technology and special effects to work with clients who can range from designers, to ride manufacturers and end users, so we design and supply technology that is fit for purpose, designed to work seamlessly and reliably to support an attraction, creating an experience that is unforgettable.
“Along with spatial audio, we are increasingly working on dome LED solutions, utilising multiple channels of uncompressed media. With LED, the design does not have to be limited by projection paths and shadows, both technologies give excellent results when designed well, although the cost of LED Domes is higher than an equivalent projection solution, but with the cost also comes a brilliance in colour and true black levels than can be quite stunning to see. We use the right technology to match the budget.”
Storm Coaster, a preshow experience from Holovis that combines LED, audio, and lighting in Dubai, UAE.
Staying fresh
Flexibility is also a key requirement for system integrators that want to deliver an experience that is not a ‘one trick pony’. For Bright, delivering a flexible, ‘replayable’ experience, requires technology that does not box the integrator or the end user in.
Bright explains: “Often, clients want a ‘world first’ project, which would be custom, but they also want some ‘replayability’, so that you can visit multiple times and have a unique visit every time.
“As an integrator, you need to pick hardware that allows you to go down different routes. Kit like video players are in place to fulfil a certain function – when it receives a trigger, it plays certain content. If a client wants an experience that is interactive, the technology we pick wouldn’t box ourselves in and only do one thing, we would propose equipment that allows you to go down multiple routes, such as using a video server that has multiple layers in it so that we can overlay content over the top, instead of using a video player that just triggers a single video.”
It's worth remembering that the 5D approach requires a combination of the senses, and by extension, a true integration of technologies that work together in sync to deliver an experience that is able to tap into the senses. Davies says: “Beyond our trademark 3D sound control and unique LED and visual integration capabilities, we’re also having a lot of conversations about how we can potentially use and support generative content, and how we could further develop our software to work with other technologies. We have an open API on our software that allows us to integrate with third parties such as sensors to trigger different sounds, or gaming engines like Unity to tie into interactive content and storytelling; I look forward to seeing where and how creatives use our technology next.”
Kraftwerk LT's Science Dome 5D theatre experience in Heilbronn, Germany.
Future feelings
No two 5D experiences are ever alike, so how will this unique brand of entertainment continue to evolve? As offerings become more sophisticated, will audience demands and expectations continue to shape the experience through boundary-pushing technology?
Bertani believes that the next evolution of 5D will require a greater adoption of haptics, of feeling, incorporated with audio to create truly realistic sensations: “To have [5D technology] adopted beyond the novelty of certain venues will require the industry to jump on it and create standards. We need an extra track for haptics, and that is already happening for movies and video games. But, for it to really take hold and break that wall that lies between novelty and adoption, we will need a standard, something that is easy to use, simple to manufacture and widely accepted and available.”
For Bright, the world of 5D has only just begun. As technology becomes more sophisticated, and these experiences continue to be more widespread, a fundamental shift in client and audience expectations will continue to drive greater innovation on the technology side.
“5D experiences have got the world talking, and it’s going to continue”, says Bright, “the levels of interactivity will increase with these experiences; even music festivals are incorporating spatial audio where everyone is getting their own perspective of the sound, and the technology keeps progressing. Clients are doing more interesting things, and there is a big expectation on the client side. Some of the proposals that we get are straight out of Blade Runner, and these ‘science fiction’ technologies exist now. When these concepts are put forward by the client, it shows that the possibilities are boundless and that gets put on us to deliver.”
Murphy closes: “Our guests expect quality and out clients expect both the quality and reliability along with the flexibility to ensure the show works well with the creative team. Even with roller coasters and other larger metal rides in theme parks and attractions, the use of media and audio-visual technology with lighting and effects is adding layers to the experience to make it more realistic and fun.
“The technology helps to bring the story together and make it an experience, but the content and the story are key. Without good content, the technology can be exposed. We are lucky our clients understand what it takes to make a good experience, and the use of technology will only increase. We are working on bigger, better and highly creative experiences now that will give guests the ‘wow’ factor and break records. The future looks great, and we like any challenge, but we must keep the technology relevant and appropriate.”