FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a media content planning system. The content planning system has particular application for virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality content, and video game development.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In the creation of video content, such as a movie, it is desirable to conceptualise and plan the movie prior to creating the movie as this is cheaper than creating the movie to later determine that the story associated with the movie does not actually work. Typically, this ‘pre-visualization’ step is achieved by first building a ‘blueprint’ of the movie using a script and/or a computer-generated animation.

However, it is difficult for creators of virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) content to appropriately conceptualise and plan VR/AR/MR content because observer experiences typically do not occur at defined times, are typically dependent on the observer location which is controlled by a user, and can emanate from any location relative to the observer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a media content planning system comprising:

a data storage device arranged to store information indicative of scenes of a media content project;

a user interface arranged to:display scene indicia indicative of locations of scenes of a media content project and/or respective timings of occurrence of the scenes in the media content project;enable a user to select an experience space for display, the experience space associated with a defined time and including a representation of an observer;enable the user to select at least one experience icon indicative of an observer experience associated with the scene;enable the user to select a location on the experience space at which to dispose each experience icon, and to display each experience icon on the experience space at the respective selected location in response to selection of a location on the experience space for each experience icon, each selected location representative of a desired location in at least 2 dimensional space relative to the observer of an observer experience in the scene at the defined time;enable the user to select at least one further experience space for display, each further experience space associated with a further defined time corresponding to a later time in the scene than the defined time;enable the user to select a further location on the experience space at which to dispose an experience icon, and to display the experience icon on the further experience space at the selected further location in response to selection of a further location on the further experience space, the selected further location representative of a desired further location in at least 2 dimensional space relative to the observer of the observer experience associated with the experience icon at the further defined time; and

the system arranged to store data indicative of:the or each selected observer experience;the scene associated with each observer experience, and for each experience space, the selected location in at least 2 dimensional space relative to the observer of each observer experience relative to the observer.

The system may be arranged to facilitate selection by a user of an open world project or a closed world project.

For an open world project, the system may be arranged to facilitate selection by a user of a journey open world project or a free roaming open world project.

In an embodiment, the media content is a closed world project and the user interface is arranged to facilitate selection by a user of scenes to form part of the media content and the order of presentation of the scenes to an observer. The user interface may also be arranged to facilitate selection by a user of the timing of presentation of scenes of the media content.

In an embodiment, the media content is an open world project and the user interface is arranged to facilitate selection by a user of scenes to form part of the media content.

In an embodiment, the system is arranged to display a world overview, the world overview comprising a world space including at least one scene icon indicative of at least one scene at a location on the world space representative of the desired location of the scene in the media content.

In an embodiment, the world space comprises a defined shape to represent a world overview.

In an alternative embodiment, the world space is defined according to a computer-generated space mesh. The space mesh may represent an actual real-world space, and the space mesh may be generated using a LIDAR, matterport scanner or any other scanning device.

In an embodiment, the system enables the user to add a scene icon to the world space at a location representative of the desired location of a scene in the media content, and to enable the user to select at least one observer experience for association with the scene icon.

In an embodiment, the system enables the user to select the type of observer experience associated with the experience icon.

In an embodiment, the experience space comprises at least one annular portion surrounding the representation of the observer, the annular portion usable by the user to add an experience icon to the experience space at a location in 2 dimensional space relative to the observer representative of the desired location in at least 2 dimensional space of an observer experience in the scene.

In an embodiment, the experience space comprises a sphere surrounding the representation of the observer, the sphere usable by the user to add an experience icon to the experience space at a location in 3 dimensional space relative to the observer representative of the desired location in at least 2 dimensional space of an observer experience in the scene.

In an embodiment, the system is arranged to enable a user to add notes to a scene.

In an embodiment, the system is arranged to enable a user to add a representative image to the media content project. The representative image may be a 360° image or a 2D image.

In an embodiment, the system is arranged to enable a user to select a point of view for the media content project.

In an embodiment, the system is arranged to enable a user to:

create a plurality of characters; and

create observer experience data for each character.

In an embodiment, the system is arranged to enable a user to share the media content project with a selected other user.

In an embodiment, the observer experience includes any one or more of a haptic experience, a visual experience and/or an audio experience.

In an embodiment, the system includes a user interface device and a remote computing device in communication with the user interface device.

In an embodiment, the remote computing device comprises a server arranged to serve data indicative of the user interface to the user interface device. The data indicative of the user interface may comprise data indicative of web pages.

The observer experience data may be stored at the remote computing device and/or at the user interface device.

In an embodiment, the user interface device includes a head mounted device (HMD) that may include a tool that supports WebVR.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of planning media content, the method comprising:

storing information indicative of scenes of a media content project;

displaying scene indicia indicative of locations of scenes of the media content project and/or respective timings of occurrence of the scenes in the media content project;

enabling a user to select scene indicia representative of a scene;

enabling the user to select an experience space for display, the experience space associated with a defined time and including a representation of an observer;

enabling the user to select at least one experience icon indicative of an observer experience associated with the scene;

enabling the user to select a location on the experience space at which to dispose each experience icon, and to display each experience icon on the experience space at the respective selected location in response to selection of a location on the experience space for each experience icon, each selected location representative of a desired location in at least 2 dimensional space relative to the observer of an observer experience in the scene at the defined time;

enabling the user to select at least one further experience space for display, each further experience space associated with a further defined time corresponding to a later time in the scene than the defined time;

enabling the user to select a further location on the experience space at which to dispose an experience icon, and to display the experience icon on the further experience space at the selected further location in response to selection of a location on the further experience space, the selected location representative of a desired further location in at least 2 dimensional space relative to the observer of the observer experience associated with the experience icon at the further defined time;

storing data indicative of:the or each selected observer experience;the scene associated with each observer experience, andfor each experience space, the selected location in at least 2 dimensional space relative to the observer of each observer experience relative to the observer.

In accordance with a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a user interface for a system for planning media content, the user interface arranged to:

display scene indicia indicative of locations of scenes of a media content project and/or respective timings of occurrence of the scenes in the media content project;

enable a user to select an experience space for display, the experience space associated with a defined time and including a representation of an observer;

enable the user to select at least one experience icon indicative of an observer experience associated with a scene; and

enable the user to select a location on the experience space at which to dispose each experience icon, and to display each experience icon on the experience space at the respective selected location in response to selection of a location on the experience space for each experience icon, each selected location representative of a desired location in at least 2 dimensional space relative to the observer of an observer experience in the scene at the defined time;

enable the user to select at least one further experience space for display, each further experience space associated with a further defined time corresponding to a later time in the scene than the defined time; and

enable the user to select a further location on the experience space at which to dispose an experience icon, and to display each experience icon on the further experience space at the respective selected further location in response to selection of a further location on the experience space for each experience icon, the selected further location representative of a desired further location in at least 2 dimensional space relative to the observer of the observer experience associated with the experience icon at the further defined time.

In accordance with a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a media content planning system comprising:

a data storage device arranged to store information indicative of scenes of a media content project;

the system arranged to communicate information to a user interface device for display at the user interface device, the information indicative of:scene indicia indicative of locations of scenes of a media content project and/or respective timings of occurrence of the scenes of the media content project;an experience space associated with a scene and including a representation of an observer, the experience space associated with a defined time; andat least one experience icon in the experience space, each experience icon indicative of the location in at least 2 dimensional space relative to an observer of an observer experience, the location of each experience icon in the experience space being representative of a desired location in 2 dimensional space relative to the observer of the observer experience in the scene;

the system arranged to receive information indicative of selection by a user of an experience space associated with a defined time, to receive information indicative of selection by the user of an observer experience to be associated with the scene, and to receive information indicative of a selection by the user of a location on the experience space at which to dispose an experience icon associated with the observer experience in at least 2 dimensional space relative to the observer, wherein in response to selection of a location on the experience space for each experience icon, the system is arranged to communicate to the user interface device information usable by the user interface device to display each experience icon on the experience space at the respective selected location;

the system arranged to receive information indicative of selection by a user of at least one further experience space associated with a further defined time corresponding to a later time in the scene than the defined time, and to receive information indicative of selection by the user of a further location on the experience space at which to dispose the experience icon associated with the observer experience in at least 2 dimensional space relative to the observer, wherein in response to selection of a further location on the experience space for the experience icon, the system is arranged to communicate to the user interface device information usable by the user interface device to display the experience icon on the further experience space at the respective selected further location; and

the system arranged to store data indicative of:the selected observer experience;the scene associated with each observer experience, andfor each experience space, the selected location in at least 2 dimensional space relative to the observer of each observer experience relative to the observer.

In accordance with a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a project planning system comprising:

a data storage device arranged to store information indicative of a project;

a user interface arranged to:enable a user to select an experience space for display, the experience space associated with a defined time;enable the user to select at least one experience icon indicative of an experience in the project;enable the user to select a location on the experience space at which to dispose each experience icon, and to display each experience icon on the experience space at the respective selected location in response to selection of a location on the experience space for each experience icon, each selected location representative of a desired location in at least 2 dimensional space of an experience at the defined time;enable the user to select at least one further experience space for display, each further experience space associated with a further defined time corresponding to a later time than the defined time;each further experience space enabling the user to select a further location on the experience space at which to dispose an experience icon, and to display the experience icon on the further experience space at the selected further location in response to selection of a further location on the further experience space, the selected further location representative of a desired further location in at least 2 dimensional space of the experience associated with the experience icon at the further defined time; and

the system arranged to store data indicative of:the or each selected experience;the scene associated with each experience, andfor each experience space, the selected location in at least 2 dimensional space of each experience.

