Universal Channel in Germany creates virtual experience for 'Chicago Fire'
Nicole Greiner is a research analyst at VAST MEDIA, a media research and consulting company based in Berlin that provides international television industry leaders with qualitative competitive market analysis of digital entertainment and content marketing.
In anticipation of the recent season four premiere of "Chicago Fire" in Germany, Universal Channel Germany launched an interactive 360° video on its website to draw attention to the new episodes. The VR experience takes users inside a burning house and allows them to experience a fire-fighting operation from a first person perspective. In addition, users have to make (life or death) decisions at several points during the experience, which influence the outcome of the video.
In the 360° "Chicago Fire" experience, users find themselves right in the middle of a burning house, where some people are trapped and need to be rescued.
During the mission, users for example have to decide who to rescue first - their fellow firefighter or a girl – or which door to take. There are two different outcomes to the interactive video, only one of which is a happy ending.
The experience, which is about two minutes in length, was produced in cooperation with the production company Schwarzbild in a fire training building in Mühlheim an der Ruhr, Germany. A shortened version, without the possibility to make decisions and influence the video, is also available in the above YouTube clip.
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