Immersive Event Consultancy

Not every immersive project starts with a clear brief. Sometimes the first question is simply: what should we build, where should it happen and what technology will actually work?

We advise on format, technology, venue, feasibility and creative direction for immersive events and installations. As an independent, vendor-neutral consultant, we help you make those decisions before committing to equipment, suppliers or production.

The aim is straightforward: the right experience, in the right space, with a setup that makes sense for the audience and the budget.

Independent and vendor-neutral

We are not tied to a particular projection system, LED manufacturer, playback platform or installation supplier.

That means we can compare the options based on what the project actually requires: projection versus LED, dome geometry, resolution, brightness, sound, playback, tracking and other technical considerations.

We can assess supplier proposals, help define technical specifications, compare quotations and support contract negotiations. The recommendation comes from the requirements of the project, rather than a particular manufacturer’s catalogue.

Venue selection and feasibility

The venue can determine what is possible before the creative work even begins.

With more than 20 years of experience in immersive production and connections across a global network of planetariums, theatres, science centres and other specialist venues, we can help identify where an experience is most likely to work.

Our venue and feasibility consultancy can include:

• Venue scouting for planetariums, theatres, science centres, museums and other immersive spaces
• Technical feasibility assessments for existing venues and proposed installations
• Temporary and mobile domes for touring events, festivals and short-term installations
• Architectural and permanent dome options
• Space and audience planning, including how the physical environment affects the experience
• Venue customisation around a specific audience, programme or event objective

The question is not simply whether a venue can accommodate the technology. It is whether the technology, space and audience make sense together.

Choosing the right format

The same idea can behave very differently as a fulldome film, real-time experience, VR installation or live event.

We help establish the right format before production begins, considering the audience, venue, content, budget and technical requirements.

That can include decisions around:

• Fulldome film versus real-time content
• Live action versus CGI or a hybrid production
• Projection versus LED
• 180° versus 360° presentation
• Stereoscopic versus monoscopic production
• Interactive versus linear experiences
• Permanent versus temporary installations

We can join a project at the earliest concept stage, step in when a production encounters technical problems, or support the final delivery and installation.

From concept to execution

Consultancy does not have to mean handing over a report and disappearing.

We can work alongside your internal team, creative agency, technical supplier or production company, filling the gaps where specialist immersive knowledge is needed. Where required, Softmachine can also take responsibility for the production pipeline from concept and content development through to technical delivery.

This makes us useful at different stages of a project: before a venue is chosen, while technology is being specified, during production, or when an installation needs to be tested and delivered.

Built around the audience

Technology can make an event possible, but it does not automatically make it work.

We look at the complete experience: where the audience enters, what they see, how they move through the space, what they hear and how the technology supports the intended story.

The result is a clearer brief, a more appropriate technical setup and fewer expensive surprises further down the line.