August 17, 2020 – INDE, a developer of augmented reality (AR) kiosks and big-screen systems, has today announced that it has deployed four of its AR HeroMirror photo booths in Graceland, the home of Elvis Presley, which will allow visitors to have a personalised encounter with the musician.
Elvis Week 2020 marks the 43rd anniversary of Elvis Presley’s passing, and Graceland – his former residence, and one of the most-visited houses in the US after the White House – has had ten new immersive experiences introduced to mark the event, including the installation of four of INDE’s AR-powered kiosks.
The ten immersive experiences include:
- Eras of Elvis Game asks guests to answer a series of questions that will result in meeting 50s, 60s or 70s Elvis via augmented reality technology for a downloadable photo;
- “Elvis Yourself” Virtual Dress-Up Experience allows fans to be virtually dressed in one of Elvis’ iconic costumes and have their photo taken;
- Elvis Album Cover Photo Booth virtually places guests onto an album cover of their choice with Elvis resulting in a downloadable photo;
- Elvis Movie Match Game asks guests to answer a series of questions that will result in meeting one of Elvis’ big screen characters via augmented reality for a downloadable photo;
- Interactive LED Dance Floor Quiz invites visitors to test their Elvis IQ by answering questions on an illuminated dance floor;
- Elvis’ Interactive Golf Cart Ride offers guests a virtual tour of the Graceland grounds in a custom-designed golf cart simulator with 360-degree video technology;
- “Can’t Help Falling in Love” AR Serenade virtually transports guests onto the set of Blue Hawaii and allows them to be serenaded by the singer. The video will be downloadable and shareable;
- Elvis Movie Posters Photo Booth virtually places guests in one of Elvis’ movie posters and delivers another unique and shareable photo;
- “Memories” AR Serenade allows guests to take a virtual seat on stage next to Elvis at the ’68 Comeback Special as he performs the song “Memories”, resulting in a downloadable video.
- Elvis: Front Row offers visitors a taste of what it was like to see Elvis perform live in this immersive concert experience that combines elements of live footage, stage lighting and surround sound.
After guests trigger INDE’s HeroMirrors, they have to pick whether they want to meet Elvis as a rock star or an actor. If they pick his musical career, they can take a short personality quiz to see if they will be matched with the 50’s, 60’s or 70’s Elvis. If they choose him as an actor, they would also be prompted to answer a few questions to find out which one of Elvis’ big-screen characters resonates the best with them. At the end of each experience, guests will get a personalised result, as well as a unique photo that they can immediately download or share.
According to INDE, the company faced a new challenge with this project – working with archive video. After consultation with the Graceland team, it decided to go down the route of using actual footage of the singer, rather hiring a lookalike and recording them in a green-screen environment.
“Unlike our previous projects where we had full control of the content production, this project made us pull every trick available out of our hat. The result is a combination of amazing enhancing technologies for the footage, combined with a carefully crafted rotoscope process to bring the best experience possible for the fans”, said Xava Fragoso, INDE’s CDO.
Alex Alanson, COO at INDE, also commented: “This is more evidence that there’s no substitute for practical experience in our industry. In high profile projects – such as seeing how ‘digital Elvis’ might resurrect the King – it’s vital to be able to offer an end-to-end workflow that captures the vision of our customers.”
The new immersive attractions have been available at the Graceland complex in Memphis, Tennessee, as of August 8, 2020 and are all included in the Graceland ticket price.
Image / video credit: INDE / YouTube
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Sam is the Founder and Managing Editor of Auganix. With a background in research and report writing, he has been covering XR industry news for the past seven years.