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Lionsgate launches ‘insurgent’ virtual reality experience with Samsung
MUMBAI: Lionsgate and Samsung Electronics America, Inc have teamed up to create the exclusive virtual reality (VR) experience – “Insurgent – Shatter Reality.”
The four-minute visual work of art is a fully-immersive, 360-degree narrative experience set in the world of the upcoming feature film The Divergent Series: Insurgent and features stars from the film including Kate Winslet, Miles Teller and Mekhi Phifer.
Beginning 27 February, fans can experience the VR content for themselves exclusively through Samsung Gear VR powered by the Galaxy Note 4 as “Insurgent – Shatter Reality” goes on tour in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin and San Francisco prior to going live across all platforms and app stores.
The experience will also be available exclusively on Samsung’s Milk VR service from 1 March. Fans outside the tour markets will have an opportunity to view the experience on Samsung Gear VR over the weekend of 7-8 March at select Best Buy stores across the US.
“Virtual reality elevates the world of Divergent to a whole new level by creating a uniquely exciting and immersive experience for our fans. The ‘Insurgent – Shatter Reality’ experience reflects our commitment to partner with leading technology companies like Samsung to remain at the cutting edge of VR and other innovations that expand the worlds of our franchises and extend our storytelling in exciting new directions,” said Lionsgate chief marketing officer Tim Palen.
“As we push new boundaries in the world of technology and virtual reality, we are excited to continue our relationship with Lionsgate and bring Divergent fans a one-of-a-kind experience through Gear VR and Milk VR. This partnership will bring fans closer than ever to the action in this blockbuster series,” added Samsung Electronics America vice president and general manager – Immersive Products & Virtual Reality Nick DiCarlo.
By putting on the Gear VR headset, consumers are immersed in the role of “Divergent” members of society who have been captured by Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet) and her Erudite faction and are subjected to a series of mental “simulations” in order to determine the full extent of their divergence. As the VR technology simulates Jeanine and her faction cohorts testing them with experimental serums, they experience two distinct, intensely gripping and realistic fearscapes, transporting them from the frightening heights of a crumbling Chicago skyscraper to the intimidating challenge of a massive, fast-approaching locomotive.
Created by virtual reality innovators Kite & Lightning with assistance from the film’s VFX team, the experience was built using stereoscopic 4K video of the actors, with effects and environment built in Unreal Engine 4 and then rendered into an immersive 3D/360-degree experience. It was scored by The Divergent Series: Insurgent composer Joe Trapanese.
The Divergent Series: Insurgent, the second installment of the Divergent franchise, will be released in theaters worldwide on 20 March. The first Divergent film grossed nearly $300 million at the global box office, and the Divergent trilogy has sold more than 30 million books around the world.
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YES Bank appoints S Anantharaman as chief risk officer
Former Jio Financial Services group chief risk officer takes charge of enterprise-wide risk at the embattled private lender
MUMBAI: YES Bank is not taking chances with risk anymore. The private lender has appointed S Anantharaman as its chief risk officer, a hire that signals the bank’s continued effort to rebuild credibility and tighten the controls that once famously slipped.
Anantharaman arrives from Jio Financial Services, where he served as group chief risk officer and built a risk management architecture spanning lending, payments, insurance broking and asset management from the ground up. Before that, he held the chief risk officer role at Bank of Baroda and senior leadership positions at HDFC Bank and L&T Finance Holdings. Three decades in banking and financial services, in other words, with scars and qualifications to match. He is a chartered accountant and a CFA charterholder.
At YES Bank, his brief is considerable. Anantharaman will oversee the bank’s entire enterprise-wide risk framework, covering credit policy, market risk, operational risk, information security, data governance, analytics, model governance and data privacy. It is, in short, every lever that matters when a bank is trying to prove it has grown up.
YES Bank’s turbulent past needs little rehearsing. What it needs now is exactly what Anantharaman has spent thirty years building: the kind of risk culture that stops problems before they become headlines. The appointment suggests the bank knows it.
