VR Training

In 2014 East City Films were contacted by Pearson Education to discuss the possibility of creating virtual reality training experiences to offer to their clients. With that call the trajectory of East City Films changed and by the following year we were producing VR as much as we were video content. VR and 360 video training is big business and we continue to produce experiences which are revolutionising how industry trains its employees.

Let us talk you through some of the areas that companies are using VR and 360 video training to great affect:

• Challenging Locations

• Hands-on Training

• Scenario & Response Training

• Communication Skills

• Post COVID-19

Challenging Locations

In the past companies have struggled with logistics, cost and safety of getting multiple staff into a specific location for training purposes. Virtual Reality is now providing a solution to this by transporting people into challenging locations either by using filmed 360 video or computer generated imagery (CGI). East City Films has worked with Transport For London, creating 360 degree video training experiences for new staff which eliminate the need to take them down into the underground tunnels and into the machine rooms, keeping them in a safe environment. Pre-VR this was an expensive and time consuming exercise involving travel, safety briefings and the innate risks of walking down connecting tunnels. Our experiences allow staff members to have the necessary training, seeing what they need to see and hearing what they need to hear, from the comfort of their office chair, or indeed home.

Hands-on Training

Companies have been using VR for hands-on employee training where it can reduce cost and eliminate complicated logistics. By using interactive virtual reality training experiences with sophisticated hand controllers staff members can enjoy a direct replica of the real world, with the added bonus of data gathering and performance analysis. A good example of this is what American Airlines have implemented for their new cabin crew members. At their training centre employees can put on a headset and explore the cabin freely, performing tasks which they will be expected to carry out on a real flight, such as opening and closing the cabin door. The immersive training in the virtual world can be monitored by an instructor who is also able to communicate with the trainees and can accommodate up to 12 people at the same time. According to the developers of the solution “The application led to an improvement of first-trial passing scores during initial door arming/disarming evaluations from 73% to 97%.”

Scenario & Response Training

Being able to put trainees into specific scenarios to develop their responses is key in a lot of customer management and safety training. This approach enables trainees to hone their skills and their responses to a series of scenarios which can be tailored specifically to the employers needs. The benefit of VR training content in this instance is being able to give every trainee exactly the same learning experience so that data and analysis is consistent across the board. We have seen this used in emergency response training, customer behaviour management and soft skills training.

Communication Skills

The public speaking performance of employees has been a challenge for so many companies for so long and the solution has often been practice makes perfect. But practicing in front of the mirror only goes so far and people find that as soon as they have 100 faces staring back at them they fall apart. By using VR you can put people in front of a virtual audience so that the speaker can practice to their heart’s content but with a much more life like setting, replicating real life. With variables such as type of space, size of audience and even controllable audience responses, the virtual environment can be tailored to each person and their specific real world event.

Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with East City Films. We have produced training experiences for Transport For London and Pearson Education and are experts in creating fully interactive VR experiences. Click for further reading on our VR production and 360 video production, as well as our augmented reality production. We are driven to create purposeful virtual reality and are excited to hear about your requirements.