Google Play and British rock legends Queen have teamed up to create The Bohemian Rhapsody Experience, a virtual reality experiment powered by groundbreaking immersive audio and interactive technologies that aim to push the boundaries of creative expression and evolve the way we experience entertainment. Soundtracked by a remixed 3D spatialized version of the quartet’s iconic hit “Bohemian Rhapsody” that reacts sonically to the user’s movements, the app gives users the opportunity to travel through an interactive visual narrative developed by VR pioneers Enosis VR along with a team of world-class animators and designers.
Through the new medium of VR, contemporary animation techniques, and aesthetics that draw inspiration from the iconography and symbolism of Queen’s music and artwork, The Bohemian Rhapsody Experience offers a journey through frontman Freddie Mercury’s subconscious mind and recreates the sensation of being onstage with the band, with visual and audio elements that respond to the user’s movements. The band worked closely with the creative team, offering them a bevy of archival content to help bring Queen’s world to life, yielding a unique, new way to enjoy “Bohemian Rhapsody” while reintroducing the song to a new generation. The song’s highly distinctive and dramatic structure informed the app’s narrative world and the environments and tone portrayed within, creating an experience that feels like stepping inside the music.
“This fabulous Google clip is a new ground-breaker – perhaps the first great work of art in stereoscopic VR animation. It’s compatible with all VR smartphone-based systems, including my own London Stereoscopic Company OWL VR kit*. A new kind of 3-D experience!” said Queen’s Dr Brian May.
“We hope this virtual reality experiment will give fans a new way to experience this iconic track while also representing the boundless possibilities for artists and creators to collaborate with Google Play,” said Gareth Hornberger, Brand Manager on Google Play.
The Bohemian Rhapsody Experience is available as a standalone Google Cardboard app on Android today and will be coming to iOS devices very soon. It also includes a 360-viewing mode for users to utilize the content even if they do not own a VR viewer.
For more on the Google-Queen collaboration story and to view the promo video please visit the microsite by clicking here now.
*For information on Brian’s London Stereoscopic Company OWL Virtual Reality Kit: http://www.londonstereo.com/vr-kit.html
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