Visual effects (VFX) and content company Dexter Studios (CEO: Kim Wook and Kang Jong-ik), launched a new virtual reality (VR) production based on the royal tombs of the Joseon Dynasty.
[Seolleung, Yungneung, Sungnueng, Mongneung]
On June 20, Dexter Studios said, “We recently produced ‘Joseon Royal Tombs VR’ together with the Royal Palaces and Tombs Center at the Cultural Heritage Administration. With an extensive range of VR content reconstructed in a virtual space, this new production will help audiences enjoy our history and culture in a new way.”
Joseon Royal Tombs VR features interactive elements using the Unreal Engine, and includes content that allows visitors to freely explore royal tombs that are not open to the general public. Dexter Studios worked on the content creation process from start to finish – it optimized 3D data, created the basic functions of the entire production, and designed 3D object assets as well as the UI.
The content for this VR production is divided into “royal tombs” and “events” The royal tombs part of the production highlights the distinct look and feel of each season with content on Seolleung (nightscape in spring), Yungneung (summer), Sungnueng (autumn), and Mongneung (winter). In particular, Sungneung, located in Donggureung, Guri-si, features a VR video filmed with drones, providing a unique experience as if flying through the sky.
As for the events part of the production, audiences can experience historical events linked to the owner of each tomb, ceremonies, and rituals with some gaming features. The production on Seolleung offers audiences a chance to become a master of ceremonies and set up an altar for ancestral rites at the royal tomb, whereas the production on Yungneung includes a game based on each stage of Hyeollyungwon’s life. Meanwhile, the production on Sungneung helps people become the groundskeeper and take care of the royal tombs, and the production on Mongneung helps audiences become an explorer from the future and examined snow-covered tombs with a robot dog.
Launched in 2021, Joseon Royal Tombs VR took Dexter Studios a full year to produce. It is currently available at the Royal Tomb Museum of the Joseon Dynasty exhibition hall near Taereung and Gangneung (Nowon-gu, Seoul). Donggureung Royal Tombs History Center (Guri-si, Gyeonggi-do) is also expected to host the production sometime during the second half of 2022.
Dexter Studios’ CEOs Kim Wook and Kang Jong-ik said, “Joseon Royal Tombs VR offers a unique opportunity to experience history from a new angle by combining immersive technology with our precious cultural heritage.” They added, “Going forward, we are hoping to lead the way in helping the public gain access to Korea’s unique culture through digital content, without the conventional time and space constraints, using Dexter Studios’ unique technology and know-how.”
Meanwhile, Dexter Studios is taking on a wide range of projects in line with the rapid growth of immersive content. In February, the company produced the headline content of “Gwanghwa Mural,” a media art project featured in the “Age of Light” initiative hosted and supervised by the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and the Korea Creative Content Agency, and in April, it signed an MOU for a media art exhibition in Gyeongju-si to push its pace of producing immersive content.
