Hengxin Mobile invests in U.S. virtual reality company to develop new VR fields

On April 16, Hengxin Mobile announced in Beijing that it had successfully invested in Virtual Reality Corporation (VRC), a leading virtual reality content creation company. It is reported that VRC is a virtual reality content provider in the United States, focusing on the creation of story-driven commercial content. Company founder Robert Stormberg once directed the film "Sleeping Curse" and won two consecutive Oscars for Best Art Direction for "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland".

On April 16, Hengxin Mobile announced in Beijing that it had successfully invested in The Virtual Reality Company (hereinafter referred to as VRC), a leading virtual reality content creation company, and held an on-site signing ceremony. Hengxin Mobile Chairman Meng Xianmin and VRC Chairman and Chief Creative Officer Robert Stormberg attended. With this press conference, VR interactive experience content such as "Mars Rescue" produced by VRC was exposed.

The on-site press conference was hosted by He Jing, director of Hengxin Mobile and former host of the "Truth and Truth" column. In this transaction, Hengxin Mobile used its own funds to purchase the common shares sold to it by VRC in Series A financing. The consideration paid by Hengxin Mobile was US$2270. Hengxin Mobile was nominated to the seven-member board of directors of VRC. The nomination rights of 2 directors, and the exclusive distribution rights of content currently owned and created by VRC in Greater China for a period of 2 years. As a result, Hengxin Mobile's strategic deployment of pan-entertainment industry integration has begun to take shape.

VRC is a U.S. based virtual reality content provider that focuses on the creation of story-driven commercial content. The company's founder, Robert Stormberg, serves as chairman and chief creative officer. He once directed the movie "Sleeping Curse" and won two consecutive Oscars for Best Art Direction for "Avatar" and "Alice in Wonderland".

At the press conference, Robert Stormberg, VCR chief production officer Chris Edwards, Meng Xianmin, Wang Wenbin, Yang Yiping, Liu Xin, Chen Mingjie, Liu Yanshen and other guests participated in the discussion of VR topics, including topics such as VR applications in the field of artificial intelligence, the use of VR technology to reproduce historical relics, VR experience and human cognition, the future of VR content and mobile video, and the opportunities and challenges of traditional filmmakers in the VR era.

Regarding the development of VR technology, what makes fans most curious is what changes it will bring to the film and television industry. Some reporters asked whether VR film and television will completely subvert the logic of current film narratives. Robert Stormberg admitted: We are indeed exploring, there is no doubt about it. Movies have also gone through an exploration stage. There was a time when movies had no sound, and there was a time when movies had no color, but movies came over. VR will also go through this stage, but we are not trying to turn VR into a movie, and we are not trying to make it gradually like a movie, we are inventing a new medium.

In this regard, Chris Edwards added: "I think there are probably two differences between VR and traditional film and television: First, as a viewer, you have the opportunity to truly participate in the entire process and influence the way the story is presented. Second, you have the opportunity to participate in such a process with your family and friends, which is similar to a multi-person experience, which will be possible in the near future."

In the future, in terms of the plans of Hengxin Mobile after joining forces with VRC, Chris Edwards revealed that in the United States, it is cooperating with Spielberg on an animation project. This time, signing a contract with Hengxin will also provide a series of opportunities to cooperate. There are many things I want to do, and the platform is very broad.

Regarding the most important feature of VR-interactive experience, this experience that allows the audience to participate in film and television and affects the direction of film and television has great differences with traditional film narrative. After all, the reactions made by each audience are different, so how can movies deal with this narrative problem? Chris Edwards replied: "It's true that the user experience cannot be unified, and you don't want it to be unified, because you want users to have a personal relationship and connection with the content presented by this medium. VRC hopes to truly create some narrative content with paid value, so we will cooperate with the top directors. Directors actually have many creative tools to guide the audience.

"Many times we may be fooled by the surface of technology, but I think the essence of VR is to go back to the beginning, which is kind of like pulling us back to the stage. As a drama director, there are many ways in a drama theater that can change the audience's viewing experience. For example, the placement of different lights, the positioning of different actors, and the positioning of sounds can easily change the audience's perception of the drama. cognition. Therefore, the best VR directors must be able to control the traditional art form of film and television while at the same time understanding the potential possibilities brought by new technologies."

At this press conference, several different VR experience videos were also exposed. Reporters and guests can experience it on their own. In all experiences, you can view the surrounding world 360 degrees, or the prairie, or the small bar in Van Gogh's paintings, etc. Some can also conduct interactive experiences. For example, in the "Mars Rescue" experience short film produced by VRC, the experimenter can move on the surface of Mars through touch, and can also do actions such as "throwing potatoes" to experience the feeling of the game.

Perhaps, in the near future, the application of VR technology will change the way we create traditional film and television and watch movies. It will also penetrate into all areas of life. The birth of a new medium will give us more novel and real experiences, and will also bring many problems to creators that need to be solved.

Meng Xianmin: Hengxin Mobile will not participate in VR hardware company

Hengxin Mobile Chairman Meng Xianmin said in Beijing on the 16th that he will not cooperate with VR hardware companies from the capital level. In his view, now is far from the stage of VR technology. The technical level is completely behind the VR era, and the hardware is also pieced together. "All the giants in the industry are not ready."

Coincidentally, Wan Haoji, founding partner of Jingwei China, mentioned at another VR/AR industry summit that morning that the entire VR/AR industry chain includes hardware, content, platforms, distribution, developer services, content manufacturer services, vertical industry solutions, etc. In his view, the investment trend for VR hardware has passed and unicorns are difficult to appear. "The opportunities for professionalization of content are now very good, and content is the best investment point for VR/AR at this stage." Jingwei Venture Capital was a Series A investor in Oculus and later sold it to Facebook.

"You see you make movies and TV to find users, but only VR content is looking for you now." Meng Xianmin believes that this is an era when VR content is scarce, just like movies 100 years ago or TV series 40 years ago, or games 15 years ago., or mobile games 5 years ago,"a content platform was very scarce when it first emerged."

For VR, the most scarce thing at present is not props, but content."Looking at the future from this perspective, I would like to advise migrant workers and migrant workers who are still engaged in computer work to quickly do content. This is a very good industry."

"Robert told me that he was an artist, not a magician, but a porter of human joy and pain." The "Robert" Meng Xianmin mentioned is Robert Stromberg, founder of the VRC company in which he participates.

"You asked me why I collaborated with top creative masters? In fact, the process of cooperation with these top creative masters is the process of computers using data to present human emotions."

In response to external doubts about the valuation of VRC shares, Meng Xianmin admitted that Liu Dengqing, an independent director, also raised such questions at the company's shareholders 'meeting on the 15th. He is a Chinese asset appraisal expert and a member of the Fifth M & A and Reorganization Committee of the China Securities Regulatory Commission."He also asked me how I valued VRC and why it was so high? I really can't answer that. I don't know why Zuckerberg would make a $2 billion acquisition of Oculus 'broken hardware that was less than $2000. If I can't understand this story, it's useless to tell anything."

In Meng Xianmin's view, by investing in VRC, which focuses on story-driven virtual reality content creation, Hengxin Mobile not only has the distribution rights of virtual reality video works created by top Hollywood directors, but also obtains creative experience and advanced management from Hollywood. A series of valuable business resources such as experience, special content production technologies and production processes. "Such valuations of creativity and asset knowledge are difficult to write on the report."

In fact, this is not the first time Hengxin Mobile has been questioned. After it announced the purchase of Oriental Dream for 1.29 billion yuan, Securities Market Weekly published an article "Hengxin Mobile's" Story Club "" stating that Hengxin Mobile, whose main business is poor, was forced to transform, but its first attempt to acquire Internet TV "Yishiteng" was rejected by the China Securities Regulatory Commission. However, the valuation of Oriental Dream, the acquisition target, has skyrocketed in the short term, and its own family members have carried the sedan chair. In addition, the acquisition target is still losing money, and it is doubtful whether its performance promises can be fulfilled.

According to financial data, in 2014, Oriental Dream did not realize any revenue, and the company's net profit was-724,100 yuan. In 2015, Oriental Dream still failed to realize any revenue, and the company's net profit for the year was-10.3707 million yuan.

Due to doubts about the valuation, the China Securities Regulatory Commission vetoed Hengxin Mobile's acquisition of Yishiteng's assets. In April 2015, Hengxin Mobile issued an acquisition draft, planning to acquire 91.3% of Yishiteng's equity by issuing shares, with a target price of 900 million yuan and an estimated value-added rate of 1198.07%.

"There was no choice but to let Yishiteng go to the New Third Board. Before it went to the market, it had been invested by securities firms in the primary market, and now it is valued at 2.2 billion yuan." Meng Xianmin's tone was full of helplessness: "I have to tell stories and operate capital. I have done it long ago, why wait until now? What's more, the film market is not so good now. As I said, the law of innovation is failure, and you must accept failure as if you accept innovation. Although I am 52 years old, I have no regrets, so I tell investors that investing is investing in the future, not buying the present. Whether it is animation, synthetic movies, theme parks and Internet finance, Hengxin Mobile has good projects."

Editor: vian