Samsung Helps Crowds Create and Share Great Festival Memories in 360

Article by Alice Bonasio

Photo accredited to Tom Atkinson 

Music festivals don’t really get much quirkier than Bestival. And as the crowds  – decked out in wellington boots, colourful fancy dress and glittery face paint  – descended upon a rainy field in Dorset, it felt like a great way to say good-bye to another British summer.

Photo accredited to Tom Atkinson 

Looking at those festivalgoers taking shelter from yet another shower, you might wonder why so many people choose not only to pay those hefty admission prices, but actually count themselves lucky to get tickets to these sold-out events. Of course there’s a lot of fantastic music on offer, but you could listen to great music in the comfort of your own home, without enduring the smell of portaloos, paying five pounds for a pint, or getting covered in mud.

It all comes down to one thing though: Creating a truly memorable experience. And technology’s greatest magic is to help people create, capture and share those special moments. This is also what drew so many people to the Samsung 360 Infinity Selfie experience at Bestival, which gave people the chance of creating a truly unique souvenir of their festival experience. That souvenir could then be shared with friends, strangers and those who hadn’t been lucky enough to get a ticket and be there to share the moment in person.

This is also why immersive technologies such as 360 degree capture and virtual reality are proving so popular. It’s becoming a lot easier to capture life in all its vivid glory. I, for one, always love watching people try Virtual Reality for the first time. When I visited my family in Brazil last year I took the Samsung Gear VR and Galaxy S7 with me, and treated everyone in my family to their first VR experience. I literally never get tired of seeing them gasp in wonder and delight.

I had a similar experience at the Bestival Hypercube. Because even though I had seen the Hypercube in action at Reading Festival the previous week, I enjoyed seeing each new group being genuinely wowed and delighted as the doors opened and the mirror chamber was revealed in all its glory.

So I made my way over to the shiny structure, which managed to gleam even in the cloudy weather. Anywhere else the iridescent 40-foot cube would have stood out as the strangest thing around, but at Bestival it was competing with towering sculptures of robots and astronauts, a giant mirror disco ball, an inflatable cathedral were couples were invited to get married (I have my doubts whether the ceremonies were legally binding, but they looked like good fun anyway) a Helter-skelter, and a real castle which belonged to the estate hosting the festival.

As I joined the queue, the friendly ushers in the black Samsung Hypercube t-shirts did a brilliant job of psyching up the crowd lining up for their turn, and letting them know what to expect once they stepped into the cube’s antechamber. “There are mirrors EVERYWHERE, vain people LOVE it.” our friendly guide joked. I remembered him as we’d met him the previous week at Reading, and although his voice was finally going a bit croaky after introducing so many groups to the concept of the infinity room and a collective 360 degree selfie, he still managed to sound enthusiastic about it.

While they waited the crowd was also invited to experience some exclusive VR content on the new Samsung gear, and register their email addresses so that they could receive their selfies via email after the experience.

Photo accredited to Tom Atkinson 

When it was our turn to go in, each person got handed some distinctly unfashionable plastic overshoes, but the reason for that soon becomes clear as you enter the dazzling inner hypercube chamber. Every single surface is covered with glittering mirrors, and that includes the floor. Muddy wellies, while essential for getting that authentic festival look, would rather spoil the effect.

At the centre of the room was a pillar with about a dozen or so Samsung Galaxy S8 smartphones, setup so that users could quickly choose what kind of music and graphics they wanted to be part of their hyper-selfie experience. Every individual choice went into the collective mix, causing groups of strangers to bond, as it felt like we were making a connection to each other through the process of creating that moment together.

Photo accredited to Tom Atkinson 

Having recently upgraded to the Galaxy S8 and new Samsung gear, I can see how far the technology has evolved in less than a year, making it so much easier not only to watch, but also to capture and share your own enhanced, immersive content. That’s the game changer, because experiences are so much more vivid when they manage to be both personal and collective. Just like going to a great music festival, or dancing your heart out in the Samsung Hypercube.

The ability to create social content that people can (and want to) share is will take such technologies to the next level and make consumers use them as routinely and naturally as they check their smartphone. Striking the balance between simplicity, intuitive design and providing a wow factor is crucial, and we’re quickly getting to that point. But with experiences like the Hypercube, and technology like we see in the Samsung Galaxy S8 and the latest generation Samsung Gear headsets, I believe we might get there even sooner than a lot of people think.

Photo accredited to Tom Atkinson 

You can check out some of the best highlights from both Reading and Bestival by searching for the #ShareTheStage hashtag on Twitter.

Author Bio

Alice is a technology journalist, consultant, and enthusiast. She is an experienced communications strategist advising many innovative start-ups as well as large corporations. In addition to running her own Tech Trends blog she regularly freelances for other tech and lifestyle titles.