Chris Pfaff moderated an expert panel, ‘Virtual Theatre: The Metaverse Smashes the Four Walls’ at Augmented World Expo at the Santa Clara Convention Center, on June 2, 2023, with Scarlett Kim, from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and Kiira Benzing, from Doubleeye Studios.
You can watch the entire session at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHwfARlXOBE&list=UULFutPI2lji_hFToXec7qOCFA&index=3
Chris Pfaff moderated a session, ‘Large-Scale Streaming for the Metaverse: Building for a World of Active Participation,’ at Streaming Media East 2023, on May 18, 2023 at the Westin Copley Place Hotel in Boston, that featured some of the leading immersive streaming pros, including Alan Bucaria, production manager for Media.Monks, Sean Gardner, head of video strategy and market development for AMD, and Joshua Johnson, senior director, solution architects, for EdgeNext.
AMD and Media.Monks had recently worked on a Post Malone Oculus VR project, ‘Post Malone’s Twelve Carat Toothache: a VR Experience,’ a virtual concert, and discussed the need for higher-resolution, low latency streaming for immersive experiences. The group also discussed the videogame industry’s work in large-scale virtual events – from Travis Scott’s Fortnite concert (27.7 milliion unique players, with 12.3 million concurrent users) to Sony PlayStation’s State of Play – and the increased use of Unreal Engine, Unity, and Lumberyard to enable creators to build their own worlds in 2D or 3D for large-scale audiences.
Check out the full session at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2CI0lfi2r60&list=PLcSb1s2U3uyBUDeDrnavJrQB9WrIEZgVg&t=134s
Sean Gardner, Chris Pfaff, Joshua Johnson, and Alan Bucaria after their Streaming Media East 2023 panel
Tom Butts (left) and Chris Pfaff (right) at the virtual tvtech Summit – March 29, 2023
Chris Pfaff was the keynote speaker at TV Technology’s tvtech Summit, a virtual half-day event on March 29, 2023 that featured leaders in the production technology industry, in a conversation with TV Technology editor-in-chief Tom Butts. Titled ‘Why You Should Care About the Metaverse,’ the March 29th conversation dove into topics regarding persistent computing, VR and AR, and some definitional discussion over the course of 30 minutes.
You can watch the entire discussion at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzk61rqUEhc&t=3s
Tom Butts wrote this preview (see below) in TV Technology, which was published on March 23, 2023.
On Wednesday, March 29, TV Tech will be holding its Spring TV Tech Summit, a series of keynote conversations, panel discussions and case studies covering the latest advances in Media and Entertainment tech.
Opening the summit, TV Tech Editor in Chief Tom Butts will talk with Chris Pfaff, founder of Chris Pfaff Tech/Media LLC, and a leading new media and technology producer and strategist on “Why You Should Care about the Metaverse.”
Chris’s 30+ year background in the industry makes him uniquely qualified to speak about this technology which (some would characterize) as “emerging” for more than a decade.
For those of us who think the metaverse is just another name for virtual reality, Chris is ready to debunk that trope.
“The metaverse is a shared decentralized digital space where you can meet, create and share a personalized experience,” he said. “But you can do that in virtual reality and in other technologies as well. And I think that someday soon, perhaps not that many years from now we will have more projectable holograms that will reflect how people currently view the future of the metaverse.
“What makes the metaverse different from virtual reality is that it has to be immersive and it has to be persistent,” Chris added. “It has to have some community which may have some connections to what you experience in the physical world. It doesn’t have to be a simulacrum of what you do in the physical world where you are just ‘layering on.’”
Making the metaverse more immersive is key, not just to entertain us but to educate us as well, Chris says
“For example, if you were studying meteorology or cosmology and somebody was teaching you about the stratosphere and the ionosphere, using the metaverse to provide a more fully immersive kind of experience could really revolutionize the way we communicate and teach,” he added.
Chris Pfaff moderated the ‘Virtual Theatre: The Metaverse Smashes the Four Walls’ session, which opened Day 2 of the Immerse Global Summit Miami, produced by the VR AR Association, on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, with an all-star panel, featuring:
The session opened with a salsa entrance – to Marc Anthony’s ‘Valió la Pena’ – that got the crowd up and dancing.
Chris Pfaff produced and moderated the ‘Building Infrastructure for a Better Metaverse: How to Ensure Seamless VR and AR Experiences’ panel at the VR AR Association’s Metaverse Platforms & Avatars event, on December 17, 2021, with panelists including:
This session discussed the tools and methodologies necessary for more adaptive and readily integrated VR and AR experiences, across the enterprise, consumer, and industrial domains. Breakthrough design, including UX/UI and UE, as well as accessible WebXR and AR, were also discussed, as pathways to a more inclusive and seamless immersive future.
Cindy Mallory (upper row, left); Aaron Pulkka (upper row, right); Luis Bravo Martins (middle row, left); Chris Pfaff (middle row, right), and Marcin Klimek (bottom row)
Aaron Pulkka shows off recent work, Cryptostream
Aaron Pulkka discusses his work with Amber Labs
Marcin Klimek shows off a cat avatar
Luis Martins shows off some AR for industrial use
Chris Pfaff produced and moderated the ‘Virtual Theatre: The Metaverse Smashes the Four Walls’ panel at the VR AR Global Summit Online, Europe, on Friday, October 1, 2021, with some of the leading producers of virtual theatre and dance:
– Lorne Svarc, CEO/artistic director, Technodramatists
– Kiira Benzing, director/producer, Double Eye Studios
– Brandon Powers, creative director/choreographer, Brandon Powers Projects
– Blair Russell, theatre producer, Blair Russell Productions/producer, Crux
This panel discussed the emergence of XR theatre production, including VR and AR integration with narrative original and adaptive works, as well as how to blend XR technologies with live and virtual audiences. The theatre world has developed communities for live, virtual productions that will continue to evolve as the COVID-19 pandemic rages.
The full panel can be viewed at: https://youtu.be/VctoD3e-qAc
Kiira Benzing (upper left); Brandon Powers (upper middle); Blair Russell (upper right); Lorne Svarc (lower left), Chris Pfaff (lower right)
Brandon Powers shows off virtual choreography
Kiira Benzing discusses her Virtual Repertory Theatre
Blair Russell shows off recent work
Lorne Svarc discusses Technodramatists’ work
Lorne Svarc shows off some of Technodramatists’ landmark ‘AliBi’ production
Chris Pfaff produced and moderated the ‘Producing in XR: How to Navigate Challenges’ panel at the VR AR Global Summit Online, Europe, on Wednesday, September 29, 2021, with some of the leading global producers of VR and AR content:
– Tupac Martir, founder, Satore Studio
– Michael Owen, co-founder/principal, MediaCombo
– Rafael Pavon, creative director, The Mill
The group discussed their experiences in overcoming production and distribution challenges in various VR and AR projects, including a recent NFT project by Tupac Martir.
You can view the entire panel at:
Michael Owen shows some of his 360-degree documentary production of Lake Baikal
Rafael Pavon shows some of his amazing work on ‘Memoria,’ inside the La Garma cave in Spain
Tupac Martir shows off a VR NFT sculpture
Tupac Martir in action
Tupac Martir shows off ‘Dr. Crumb and the School of Disobedient Pets’
Michael Owen shows off recent work
The second VR AR Global Summit Online swapped what would have been Vancouver as a destination for a truly global audience, this time mastering the Hopin platform to greater effect than its June inaugural online effort.
Chris Pfaff moderated two panels at the 2nd VR AR Global Summit Online. The first, ‘Producing in XR: How to Create Unique Stories for Immersive Audiences’ panel, featured Maciej Wisniewski, founder of 99 Cent Opera, Espii Proctor, principal/creative & technical director, Espii Studios, and Michael Owen, CEO of MediaCombo. Maciej showed off more features of his forthcoming Edelweiss, VR, Act 1 (EVR-1), the first blockchain music-driven game of its kind, while Espii discussed her wide range of multimedia performances and story worlds, including spatial sound design. Michael showed off some of his recent work, including a VR installation at the Pollock-Krasner House on Long Island, where he and his team recreated the artistic works and experience of the great artists Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner.
‘Producing in XR’ originally streamed at 10:30 am EST on Thursday, October 1, 2020. You can view it at:
The second panel that Chris Pfaff moderated, ‘Collaboration Tools in VR: Developing Virtual Creativity in the Age of Social Distancing,’ featured Kiira Benzing, producer/director of Double Eye Studios, and Jussi Havu, CEO of Glue. Kiira demonstrated her recent ‘Finding Pandora X’ Greek tragedy adapation, which had just been awarded ‘Best Immersive VR Experience’ at the Venice Film Festival 2020. Jussi showed off a new version of what is now the leading collaborative enterprise platform for VR meetings, and discussed Glue’s expansion of its virtual meeting and creativity technology.
‘Collaboration Tools in VR’ originally streamed at 11:15 am EST on Thursday, October 1, 2020. You can view it at:
Michael Owen shows off some of the impressive XR work that MediaCombo has produced for museums and cultural institutions
Maciej Wisniewski demonstrates the music-driven narrative structure of his VR blockchain game, ‘Edelweiss, VR 1’
Espii Proctor discusses virtual theatre production
Kiira Benzing demonstrates her ‘Finding Pandora X’ work
Jussi Havu demonstrates new features for the Glue collaborative VR platform
Chris Pfaff moderated two sessions during the first VR AR Global Summit Online, produced by the VR AR Association, on June 2nd and 3rd, 2020. The first session, ‘Collaboration Tools in VR: Developing Virtual Creativity in the Age of Social Distance’ was held on June 2nd and featured two of the leading platforms for VR collaboration – Glue, represented by Jani Leskinen, head of sales, and MeetinVR, represented by founder/CEO, Cristian-Emanuel Anton – and one of the leading virtual theater producers, Keira Benzing. The session was voted in the Top 5 of the more than 200 sessions held during the summit.
Jani Leskinen (top left), head of sales for Glue; Chris Pfaff (top right), moderator; Cristian-Emanuel Anton (lower left), founder/CEO of MeetinVR, and Keira Benzing (lower right), from DoubleEye Studios, discuss collaborative VR experiences
The second session, ‘Producing in XR: How to Create Unique Stories for Immersive Audiences’ was held on June 3rd, and featured
* Chloé Jarry, CEO/executive producer, Lucid Realities Studio
* Maciej Wisniewski, founder/producer, 99 Cent Opera
* Rafael Pavon, director/creative producer for VR/AR
* Pouria Kay, CEO, Grib
The session included a look at 99 Cent Opera’s EVR-1 blockchain VR game, as well as Chloé Jarry’s immersive experiences, Rafael Pavon’s leading VR work, and Pouria Kay’s AR platform, Grib. The stimulating conversation on how producers are developing new stories for XR platforms can be viewed at:
Maciej Wisniewski (upper left), from 99 Cent Opera; Rafael Pavon (upper center); Chloé Jarry (upper right), from Lucid Realities Studio; Pouria Kay (lower left), from Grib, and Chris Pfaff, moderator (lower center), as Rafael Pavon demonstrates some of his work
Pouria Kay (lower left) presents the Grib platform for immersive and AR production
Chloé Jarry presents some of her work
Maciej Wisniewski presents a preview of EVR-1, from 99 Cent Opera
Discussion with the full panel: Rafael Pavon (upper left); Chris Pfaff (upper right); Chloé Jarry (middle left); Maciej Wisniewski (middle right), and Pouria Kay (lower center)
Thanks to the inimitable Ben Weintraub, from Merit Software, I produced events on VR and AR producing at Temple Emanu-el and the Wharton Club in New York in December, 2018, and March, 2019, respectively. Both sessions were sponsored by the VR/AR Association’s New York chapter, of which I am an advisor, and current co-chair of the Storytelling Committee.
Michael Owen, CEO of MediaCombo, and Dex Smither, director of Verizon envrmnt, presented at Temple Emanu-el on December 16, 2018, and joined me again, along with Cortney Harding, CEO of Friends with Hologram, at Wharton Club New York, on March 26, 2019. The events, ‘Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality: Producing the Future,’ discussed various use cases regarding immersive experiences for brands, public institutions, and for the emerging 5G ecosystem, which Dex Smither explained flawlessly.
Many thanks to Richard Abeeku Mills-Robertson, from Greenberg Traurig, for hosting the Wharton Club New York event.
Ben Weintraub (seated) gets virtualized while (left to right) Chris Pfaff, Dex Yee, Michael Owen, and Dex Smither watch, after the ‘Producing the Future’ event at Temple Emanu-El
Chris Pfaff welcomes the audience at Temple Emanu-El, for the ‘Producing the Future’ event, 12.16.18
Chris Pfaff, Dex Smither, and Michael Owen, setting up for the ‘Producing the Future’ event at Temple Emanu-El, 12.16.18
Michael Owen demonstrates MediaCombo’s AR installation at the Morgan Library, at the ‘Producing the Future’ event at Temple Emanu-El, 12.16.18
Dex Smither discusses 5G, and its significance in the streaming AR and VR ecosystem, at the ‘Producing the Future’ event at Temple Emanu-El, 12.16.18
Dex Smither answers a question from the audience at the ‘Producing the Future’ event at Temple Emanu-El, 12.16.18
Dex Smither discusses Verizon envrmnt’s work at the ‘Producing the Future’ event at Wharton Club NY, at Greenberg Traurig, 03.26.19
Michael Owen, Dex Smither, Richard Abeeku Mills-Robertson, Chris Pfaff, and Cortney Harding, after the ‘Producing the Future’ event at the Wharton Club NY, at Greenberg Traurig, 03.26.19
Chris Pfaff, Ben Weintraub, and a guest at the Wharton Club NY event, ‘Producing the Future,’ at Greenberg Traurig, 03.26.19
Chris Pfaff moderates ‘Modern Measurement’ panel at Streaming Media East New York
The first Streaming Media East event held in New York City in person since 2019, at the east-side Intercontinental Barclay Hotel, wrapped up on Wednesday, May 22, 2024 with a bang. Chris Pfaff moder...