One Strange Rock VR

‘One Strange Rock’ is a thrilling exploration of planet Earth through the eyes of astronauts, hosted by American actor Will Smith with direction from award-winning filmmaker Darren Aronofsky. The show is a mind-bending journey that explores the fragility and wonder of the planet.

The immersive viewing experience parallels the concept of the series, imitating a view of Earth from the perspective of astronauts in space. National Geographic created the Space Projection Helmet to bring this unique vantage-point even closer to those on Earth. The limited-edition gear was exhibited during an event at the Whitby Hotel Theatre in New York City and will go on tour of schools and planetariums in select cities this spring.

In another example of cross-platform collaboration and cooperation among global departments, Framestore’s VR Studio in New York repurposed footage created for the show from Framestore’s Television Department in London. It was necessary to reimagine the footage for a curved projection screen to fit within the bespoke headsets which offer an exceptionally wide field of view that mimics the field of vision that an astronaut would have. Framestore’s skilled artists created a custom distortion map to allow the footage to display at the correct scale within the curved visors. The surface of each helmet is transmissive, allowing outsiders to see what the viewer is immersed in.