The new influx of investor money will help the VR firm “to significantly scale up VR production, and advance their professional-grade camera hardware and software production tools, delivering content to the widest array of mobile devices and VR hardware in the industry”, said Palo Alto, Calif.-based Jaunt in a statement.
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Jaunt not only received the support of Disney, but also of Sky, Evolution Media Capital, China Media Capital, Axel Springer and Madison Square Garden Co., with the newest round of investment set to aid in upgrading the production equipment, developing software and hiring more staff for their office headquarters and separately their newly opened studio in Los Angeles.
Disney recently used Jaunt’s VR services for ABC News’ virtual look at Syria as part of their coverage of the migrant crisis. “Jaunt is perfectly positioned in this market and has raised the quality of virtual reality experiences to the next level”. Although today’s announcement will boost the hopes of film enthusiasts and tech gurus alike, Mr. Christensen said VR still has a long way to go before the release of a VR motion picture.
But issues like movie length haven’t stopped Oculus Story Studio, which released the VR short film Henry in July 2015. It’s hard to fathom a media company that is better suited for the potential of virtual reality in the realm of entertainment than Disney.
Content would be available across Disney operations, including at its theme parks, which are in the process of building new lands and rides, a Jaunt executive said. What happened was a lot of cool action films got transferred to 3-D. The startup develops cameras that can shoot videos in 360 degrees.
That’s a potent claim, as some of virtual reality’s skeptics like to draw links between it and the flop of 3-D televisions just a few years ago.
“I find virtual reality to be the most compelling new visual medium to come onto the entertainment landscape in my lifetime”, said Rick Hess, the 50-year-old head of Evolution Media.
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Robert Iger, the CEO of Disney, wrote in 2014 that “one of the most exciting development” he sees coming in the “horizon is technology that will immerse” people “into entertaining worlds”. Jaunt is at the forefront of this content revolution, and is partnering with the leading content creators as well as technology and media companies to take VR to the next level. “To do that, you need a camera that is going to [stitch together 360-degree footage] and ultimately pump out a good image”.
