If you’re unsure whether this is real or fake, just look through the screen

ㆍThe reason it can snow in the tropics is because of the use of immersive media technology.

ㆍ‘Dotmill’ is an immersive media content and exhibit company based in South Korea. They have held large events and theme parks worldwide.

ㆍTurn your fun imagination into reality: with holograms, 3D modeling, and IoT!

Come play in the Ice Jungle

Actually, it’s a fake. A fake that closely resembles the authentic item, to be precise. It’s a digital theme park in Phu Quoc, Vietnam. The startup behind the 13,000-square-meter ice jungle filled with media art is South Korea’s Dotmill. They created an ice kingdom in a hot tropical area where snow is rare and displayed immersive media to match the natural beauty. All media zones utilized immersive media technologies such as holographic screens, interactive sensors, and illuminated lights. Dotmill was responsible for everything from on-site 3D scanning to design and sculpture creation. To make visitors feel the cold, refrigerators were used to create real snowfall, and immersive media technology was used to make snow fall on palm trees, creating a larger-than-life winter in Phu Quoc.

Experience Media

Dotmill’s Ice Jungle may remind you of The Sphere in Las Vegas. The Sphere is the world’s largest dome venue that features ever-changing media art, dazzling visitors with its sphere-shaped 360-degree screen. This screen can display various scenes, such as a moon crash-landing on Earth or an emoji with rolling human pupils. On Halloween, it transforms into the world’s largest pumpkin. The main goal of this media art is to create an immersive experience, which we refer to as immersive media.

Based on information and communication technology (ICT) and maximizing the five human senses, it is media-based immersive content that provides a life-like experience. Immersive media is created using ICT to maximize the five human senses, providing a lifelike experience. It is characterized by being immersive, interactive, and intelligent. This type of media breaks away from the limitations of traditional two-dimensional media by implementing three dimensions, maximizing the field of view, angle, and shape. It creates a sense of visual foreignness and stimulates the senses. This includes technologies such as AR, VR, XR, MR, and metaverses, allowing for experiences that engage all the senses, including sight, sound, touch, and even smell. Here are some of the key technologies for creating “experiential media”.

Projection mapping: a technique for projecting light images onto the surface of an object to create the illusion of another room.

Media facades: a technique that utilizes LED lighting to project images onto the exterior walls of a building, turning the walls into a display screen.

Digital signage: Digital media utilizes networked displays, such as kiosks or holograms, to present information.

Anamorphic: A technique that creates the illusion of objects popping out of the screen, maximizing the three-dimensionality effect.

Anything you can imagine becomes a reality

Dotmill is developing technology to bring immersive media technologies such as virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and holograms to broadcasting, film, gaming, and entertainment. Their slogan is clear and simple: to make the world more mysterious. They’re constantly experimenting with fusing technology, content, and storytelling to turn fantasy into reality. For example, “Ice Jungle” follows the adventures of Moore Dong, a polar bear with the mysterious ability to make snow fall and create ice crystals. “Lunapol,” a digital theme park on Jeju Island in South Korea, also has a fun take on the world. The story goes that so many people made wishes to the moon that the moon crashed on Jeju Island, weighed down by the weight of their wishes. The park is organized into nine different experience areas based on the wishes written on each moon fragment.

Can you bring your wildest dreams to life? Imagine designing a city made entirely of immersive media. Picture flying cars, upside-down trees, talking animals and plants – you have the power to bring all of these fantastical elements to life through immersive media. Although it’s all displayed on a screen, the visuals, sounds, touch, smells, and other sensory experiences should feel “real”. You could even engage in a simulation game where you’re tasked with saving a city from an alien invasion. (Imagine pressing reactive sensors hidden throughout the city to make the aliens disappear!) If AI robots,  IoT and holograms can be integrated into immersive media in the future, a new world will open up.

Even if this is a trick of the eyes and ears, it will be an enjoyable experience. Let’s go, experiential media!