Interview with Advisory Board member Danny van Zuijlen: ‘The scalability of IX leaves something to be desired, which worries me, but I also see clear opportunities.’

The Advisory Board of CIIIC consists of over 24 carefully selected members who provide solicited and unsolicited advice to our program team on substantive main lines. As representatives of the IX community and ambassadors of IX in the Netherlands, they are crucial for the connection with the industry. But who are these members, what do they do, and - most importantly - how do they view IX?

In part 15 Danny van Zuijlen, founder Studio Immersief.

Who are you, what do you do?

‘Story hunter, that is how I feel. Telling, uncovering, researching, and passing on good and important stories. Preferably through immersive media, but it could just as well be through an ‘old-fashioned’ book. As long as the imagination of the person experiencing it is activated and participates. I don’t really like rehashed formats. I want the visitor to think for themselves, experience, and truly have an encounter. In my role as founder and producer of Studio Immersief, I can express myself in all these facets.’

Why 'immersive', what is your connection to new content/technology?

‘For me, (digital) technology opens the door to new storytelling worlds. Genres like horror, war, and science fiction are often difficult to realize in traditional entertainment; it requires a lot of adaptation to make passive recipients experience something. That's precisely why I find it interesting to engage with these genres as an IX creator. I also believe that the new generation, raised with the worlds of Harry Potter and Stranger Things, craves these kinds of stories.’

Why did you want to join the Advisory Board, what specifically appealed to you about the program?

‘To further spread the 'word' of IX and thus familiarize new creators, established professionals, and students with the immersive genre. At the same time, we are looking for adopters, the audience, and the end-user: for whom and which companies or brands are these technologies interesting, where do we find a market, and how can we scale up? With the experience I've gained from the large-scale productions of Studio Immersief, I want to support that search, advance it, and pass on knowledge.’

What is your IX dream/mission?

‘I often hear that IX is still in its infancy. For me, we've already taken a step further: from toddler to preschooler. Although we sometimes still need to learn how to walk, I mainly hope that we work towards mature distribution channels and sales markets. The scalability of IX still leaves much to be desired; there is no clear distribution channel, and the revenue model is complicated: limited sales market versus high costs to present work. That worries me, but I also see clear opportunities – the interest is there. I hope that the IX-Labs can be a solid foundation for that.’

What developments in the field do you see that you find important to strengthen and why?

‘I often hear from friends and family that they have never worn a VR headset. We as a sector can be at the forefront, but if the user and companies that could utilize IX lag behind, we are doing something wrong. Therefore, we must carefully balance between what we can create and what the customer, user, visitor, or audience ultimately really needs. With CIIIC, I hope that we can bridge that gap and bring supply and demand closer together.’

Public values play an important role at CIIIC, what is your view on that? Extra stimulating or a possible obstacle?

‘Public values are important within the IX offerings. At the same time, I believe that to reach a larger audience, we must prevent it from becoming a distant affair ; that the experiences become too artificial. Topics and themes that are close to the end user work best – and often these topics are closer than we think. I find the CIIIC call on urban development, for example, incredibly interesting. A theme that will appeal to many local businesses, entrepreneurs, and neighborhood residents. I hope that the parties participating in this call will also present themselves well in the cities where it takes place. Dare to put on your VR glasses and ask for input on your prototype at the local market.’

Finally, the Advisory Board gives advice—what is your message to the community? And how can people find and ‘engage’ you to possibly share their ideas with the community?

‘I notice that Dutch people are often a bit modest. Due to our Calvinistic background, we don’t easily showcase our success. But look at the Americans, who shout ‘look at me!’ at every opportunity.

In short: sell yourself! Use social media, among other things, to showcase your product, your successes, and your knowledge. We need to let others and each other know – inform and inspire – how far we are with innovation. By actively sharing your work, others will know what you are working on. This way, you can collaborate, utilize each other's knowledge and energy, and ultimately get much further.

To put words into action: at Studio Immersief, we have just completed a major research project in collaboration with VZ Consulting and Curious Culture on how to use digital tools for public activation – where current market trends were compared to opportunities in immersive storytelling and summarized in a report with concrete instructions and steps to make your approach scalable for multiple organizations and companies. This way, you discover how to turn small pilots into structural, large-scale applications.

Would you like to know more about how we do this or receive the report? Feel free to contact us. You can do so directly via danny@studioimmersief.nl, or via adviesraad@ciiic.nl.’

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Interview: Nils Adriaans

Photography: Ben Houdijk