NEW YORK – Boutique audio post house HOBO (www.hoboaudio.com) has launched a 360 VR division and formed strategic alliances with production/post production studios East Coast Digital and Hidden Content, both based in New York. Together, they will offer clients a full service approach to 360 VR content creation – from concepting through production, post, music and final audio mix, all in an immersive 360 format.
The companies are currently collaborating on several projects that employ what Howard Bowler, HOBO founder and president, calls “object oriented audio mixing” to enhance the 360 viewing experience, which, thanks to the emergence of new hardware from companies like Oculus, Samsung, Sony and Google, offers unique opportunities for the new medium to both entertain and educate more deeply than before.
“The applications of 360 VR are already having an impact on everything, from gaming and entertainment to science, health, medicine, history and teaching,” Bowler says. "At HOBO, we get comfortable with new technologies that inspire us by diving in head-first and working with the tools. That’s what we’re doing with 360 VR content.”
Partnering with HOBO are the New York-based production/post studios Hidden Content and East Coast Digital. Founded by creative director, Ant Gentile, Jake Wasserman, and Adam Donald, Hidden Content is a VR production and post production company working with such clients as Samsung, 451 Media, Giant Step, PMK-BNC, Nokia and Pop Sugar.
East Coast Digital was founded by Scott Kleinberger in 1998 and provides complete post production services for content creators, including editorial, color correction, delivery, archive/asset management and mobile rental systems. Their 360VR work includes the short film Cardboard City, which was a co-winner of the Samsung Gear Indie VR Filmmaker Contest and debuted at Sundance 2016 on the Milk VR platform.
In addition to working with its creative partners, HOBO (through its division Green Point Creative) is developing an original dramatic TV series produced in 360 that Bowler says is a Wire-inspired story set in the suburbs that will be shot and distributed via various 360 platforms.
“I’ve always envisioned HOBO as doing more than audio, but always resisted the temptation to simply add new post services,” Bowler adds. “I wanted something more holistically focused. 360 VR is a technology that I believe will grow as more companies like ours create content for it. We’re committed to working with other creative companies that also want to push the boundaries of this new medium.”