TIME Immersive AR Experience Shines A Spotlight On The Rapidly Shrinking Amazon Rainforest
TIME turns to AR and Jane Goodall to help expose deforestation in Brazil.
TIME Turns To AR And Jane Goodall To Explore The Rapidly Shrinking Amazon Rainforest
TIME Magazine is launching a new AR experience called Inside The Amazon: The Dying Forest, marking the second immserive experience to launch on their AR/VR app TIME Immersive, which was made available to all iOS and Android users this past July.
When TIME Immersive arrived it came bundled with the publications first AR activation, Landing on the Moon, which brought the infamous Apollo 11 moon landing to life via an AR experience that included detailed information regarding the historic mission.
TIME’s Inside the Amazon takes the same meticulous detailed approach as Landing on the Moon, only instead of taking you beyond Earth’s atmosphere and into the vastness of outer space, you are instead transported deep into the wilds of Brazil for an intimate tour of the most remote and difficult-to-reach locations within the rapidly shrinking Amazon Rainforest.
To create the experience, TIME sent two AR producers into the infamous jungle alongside reporter Matt Sandy and used hi-def cameras mounted to powerful drones to capture a collection of detailed 3D scans of the Amazon that could then be displayed in augmented reality.
Much like how Landing on the Moon celebrated the anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, Inside the Amazon coincides with the release of a TIME Magazine special edition issue that will focus on the current ongoing climate crisis. The issue, which will be available in newsstands September 12th, will use the magazine’s cover as the mechanism to launch the AR experience. The experience will include a piece from Sandy about how the Amazon Rainforests ecosystem has reached a point of no return. How with continued neglect it could potentially devolve into a dry, savanna-like environment; or worse, it could trigger a scenario of runaway global warming.
Featuring a stunning 3D visual AR experience, Inside the Amazon uses spatial sound design to take you out of your reality and deep into the jungles rich and eclectic ecosystem. Dr Jane Goodall, who has worked tirelessly on conservation and animal welfare issues for an incredible 59 years, lends her voice to the project, guiding you through the experience while exposing the primary factors that are driving deforestation.
She’s also there to convey the stories of people currently fighting for the Amazon and the motivations behind their passion for conservation. More importantly, Goodall provides a voice to every human, animal, insect, and plant that has the most to lose if the Amazon disappears from the Earth.
TIME’s Inside the Amazon is the latest example of how AR and VR is changing journalism by giving the audience a rich and more personalized news experience. The New York Times used AR last year to take their readers deep into the Thailand Caves, while the Weather Channel is using immersive technology to give viewers a more comprehensive perspective on how dangerous a storm can really be.
As AR/VR technology continues to evolve, its impact on storytelling and journalism will only progress. Using immersive technology, journalists and activists can create experiences that deliver a stronger sense of empathy between the viewer/reader and the subject matter.
Inside The Amazon: The Dying Forest and Landing on the Moon AR experiences are available now on iOS and Android via the TIME Immersive app.
Feature Image Credit: TIME IMMERSIVE
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