Time Inc.’s Sports Illustrated will be filming a virtual reality (VR) documentary series centered on four climbers as they climb Mount Everest, Variety reports. The series promises to deliver an exhilarating, first-person perspective of one of the riskiest journeys in the world of mountaineering.
The media company officially picked up rights to the docuseries form Endemol Shine Beyond USA, the digital division of Endemol Shine North America. The show is titled Capturing Everest and will be the first complete ascent of Mount Everest in VR. The show will debut on Time Inc.’s new Life VR platform and SI.com in 360-degree video in the first quarter of 2017. Additionally, SI will show coverage of the climb across print and digital properties.
Capturing Everest will be shot on location over a two-month period in April and May of 2016. Endemol Shine Beyond USA teamed up with climbing expedition leader Garrett Madison and independent producer Lauren Selig by providing cameras to the climbers. They shot about two months’ worth of daily video elements, which is currently being sifted through by the post-production team. In regards to the show, Mia Tramz, the managing editor of Life VR said “Attacking the world’s highest summit seemed like the perfect place to go with our new VR initiative, and by partnering with Endemol Shine and adding in the world-class storytellers from Sports Illustrated, I think we have something truly special and unique to offer our audience.”
Currently, the total running time of the docuseries and the number of episodes is still being decided but Tramz stated that each segment is expected to be about 3-5 minutes, which is average for many VR experiences. Capturing Everest will be available to watch on Life VR, a free, standalone app for iOS and Android with programming available across Google Cardboard, HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR powered by Oculus. The docuseries can also be viewed as a 360-degree video on desktop and mobile devices.