"More immersive displays generally produce higher social presence. Shared formats have distinct advantages over isolating HMD experiences for museum settings."
Oh, Bailenson & Welch (2018), systematic review of 152 studies. Supported by Falk & Dierking's Contextual Model of Learning, validated with 217 museum visitors, which identifies the sociocultural context as one of three core drivers of museum learning.
Everyone experiences it together
Museums are social places. Families, classes, and friends visit together. ALICE keeps them together: seated side by side, sharing the same story in real time.
The group format isn't a nice-to-have. It's how museum learning actually works.
"The pathway from presence to learning is indirect and conditional. Presence creates the conditions for learning, but those conditions must be channeled through appropriate instructional design."
Makransky & Petersen (2021), the Cognitive Affective Model of Immersive Learning (CAMIL), Educational Psychology Review. The 2019 Makransky, Terkildsen & Mayer study found that immersive richness without design strategies actually increased cognitive load and reduced learning outcomes.
The teaching is baked in, not bolted on
We build every film with subject experts from day one. The learning isn't a worksheet at the end. It's in the pacing, the story, and the quiet moments to reflect.
It's not about the gear. It's about the designed experience.
"Plausibility Illusion (the sense that depicted events are actually occurring) depends on narrative coherence. Without it, even technically immersive environments fail to generate genuine presence."
Slater (2009), Place Illusion and Plausibility Illusion framework, Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. Supported by Kolb's experiential learning theory: presence provides the concrete experience, but narrative structure scaffolds the reflection that turns experience into learning.
Story first, tech second
The "wow" of VR wears off. A good story doesn't. Our films are made by professional filmmakers who treat the technology as a tool, not the point.
When the wonder fades, the story remains.
"Adding immersive VR to a science lab simulation caused more presence but less learning, and higher cognitive load. Without design strategies to manage cognitive load, immersive richness becomes overwhelming."
Makransky, Terkildsen & Mayer (2019), Learning and Instruction. Effect size d = 1.30 for presence increase, paired with lower learning outcomes when instructional design is absent. The 2022 follow-up confirmed that managed cognitive load reverses the effect entirely.
Calm cinematography that lets the story land
Flashy visuals steal attention from the lesson. Our camera moves are steady and purposeful. The sound supports the story instead of overwhelming it.
The experience is immersive. The content is what you remember.
Every principle on this page traces to a specific research finding. Want to see the evidence?
Read the white paper →"Fulldome and shared immersive formats offer a practical advantage: they are inherently group experiences, supporting 20 to 150+ visitors per session, with minimal cybersickness risk compared to individual HMD experiences."
Yu et al. (2016), 781-participant fulldome study. Jacobson (2011, 2013), Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Falk & Dierking Contextual Model: the physical context (including accessibility and spatial design) is one of three core drivers of museum learning outcomes.
Every visitor can take part
Access isn't a checkbox. It's a learning outcome. Comfortable visitors learn more. ALICE is fully seated, wheelchair accessible, and calibrated so a first-timer can jump in from minute one.
If a visitor can't take part, the research doesn't reach them.
"Design for sustained engagement, not spectacle. Museums benefit from immersive formats that encourage repeat visits and evolve over time, rather than single-use installations that rapidly exhaust visitor novelty."
Miguel-Alonso, Rodriguez-Garcia & Checa (2024), novelty effect longitudinal research. Falk & Dierking (2000): repeat engagement is a key predictor of long-term informal learning outcomes. Zhou, Chen & Wang (2022), museum-specific meta-analysis: sustained programming outperforms one-time installations.
Arrives installed. Leaves without a trace. Comes back new.
Permanent installs go stale. ALICE stays for 3 to 12 months, then swaps in new films. No capital outlay. No obsolete gear.
Fresh content keeps visitors coming back, and that's where the learning compounds.
"VR should be reserved for experiences that are Dangerous, Impossible, Counterproductive, or Expensive to provide in the real world. The key is to focus on scenarios that are jaw-droppingly special in that medium."
Bailenson, J.N. et al. (2025). Five canonical findings from 30 years of psychological experimentation in virtual reality. Nature Human Behaviour. The DICE framework, originally developed at Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab, formalized in this 2025 review.
We only make films you couldn't make any other way
Dive to the ocean floor. Stand in a dinosaur dig. Travel inside a volcano. If a story could work on a flat screen, we keep it on a flat screen.
If a story works on a flat screen, it should stay on a flat screen.
Want the quick version? Six common mistakes, and what the research actually says.
6 Things We Get Wrong →