WDR Time Capsule

WDR Zeitkapsel (time capsule) is a virtual reality project based on WebVR technology. It runs with a maximum resolution of 8k and on all devices, from simple smartphone via desktop PC, the Samsung Gear VR, up to high-end VR glasses HTC Vive und Oculus Rift. Those who enter zeitkapsel.wdr.de on their device is all set for an adventure.

The uniqueness: anyone who swallows a time capsule won't just land in a 360° video but in a totally interactive world. Switches can be pushed, the TV shows original programmes from that time and people react to what you do.

Using state-of-the-art WebVR technology this virtual reality experience can be experienced directly in the browser, on all devices. With and without virtual reality headset. If VR glasses are connected to the PC, the website will automatically recognise this and displays the content on the VR headset, e.g. on the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Thus the user can dive simply and directly into the virtual world without having to install an app.
Of course, this all works also on mobile VR devices like Smartphones, Google Cardboard, Oculus Go, Google Daydream or Samsung Gear VR.

In the project WDR Zeitkapsel (time capsule) WDR's classical knowhow meets state-of-the-art VR technology. Although the project comes across with a certain lightness, each time capsule needs lots of research. We wanted to design the experience as authentically as possible. We therefore burrowed into film and photo archives, talked to contemporary witnesses and visited numerous potential filming spots in advance until fitting motifs were found.

No aeroplane or living room existed in its original state, so we had to help with props and additional scenography. Our actors had to have authentic clothing and hairstyles.

The 360° shots were produced with photo cameras on which were mounted fisheye lenses. In postprocessing photos were seamlessly combined with videos to bring into being the many opportunities for interaction.

Many topics of the time capsule journeys seem amusing from a present day perspective. This is also true of the roles of men and women in the sixties as becomes apparent in our scenes and in the archive programme. Fact is – and with this the theme becomes serious: the man was then the king of the castle – even given the fact that in West Germany the Equal Rights Act had been in effect since 1958. For example, the wife was only permitted to work if her household duties didn’t suffer as a result – and the decision on that was made by the husband. Also money was managed by the man of the house: for daily grocery shopping there was housekeeping money, for things they wanted for themselves many wives had to ask for an allowance. The man, it said in the introduction of the Act from 1958, is "head" and "breadwinner" of the family and the woman its "heart."
In our view, „Zeitkapsel“ (time capsule) is a project which points to such sociopolitical correlations and to the changes which have happened since.