Often trailers can reveal too much about the story arc of a series and it’s characters, even showing spoilers as a means of tempting people to watch. To promote ABC’s new drama `Time After Time’, we wanted to leave the actual story as a mystery, focussing instead on the opportunity to deliver a totally unique experience to viewers – Time Travel.

The immersive quality of a headset VR experience enabled us to create a feeling of intensity and loss of control that is present throughout the series, while also introducing the lead character (Jack the Ripper) with intrigue and menace.

We sent our audience back to the cobbled streets of smoke-filled Victorian London and then shot them forward in time to a deserted, modern-day Times Square. After following Jack through the shadows of the city, our lead man offers an ultimatum to watch the season premier to find out more.

We’ve all had fantasies about being a time traveller. Inside the time machine, viewers have the option to experience the thrill of time travel for themselves. As you spin round, the frost cracks across the porthole and the various shiny switches add to the authenticity of the experience. VR is the closest thing you can get to time travel without an actual time machine and we wanted to utilise this tech to transport the audience to a realm they wouldn’t otherwise be able to access. This could only be achieved by creating a sense of reality, delivery by photo realistic CGI and spatial sound design throughout the experience.

The environments look rich and hugely detailed. Every scene is packed with little touches that all add to the authenticity of the experience. We haven’t thrown the entire production at one big, shiny effect. Instead we’ve invested in a thousand tiny ones. Whether it’s spotting the oil paintings inside the Victorian houses in 1890’s London, or the bespoke movement of the dial mechanisms within the Time Machine, or the smallest details within the giant screens that tower above modern day Times Square. The worlds that the user travels through feel utterly unique and immersive. Ultimately meaning that every viewer will pick out different elements from the journey, all of which combine to give that person a completely unique experience.

The end-to-end production schedule was only 23 days, including pre-visualisation, a green screen shoot in LA, all modelling and post-production from our London studio. A Samsung VR takeover in the US allowed us to deliver the optimum headset experience, though it was also distributed via a 360 ad platform and social media, enabling mass reach before the premiere.