Vrai Pictures

What Vrai Pictures does

Vrai Pictures is an award-winning extended reality content studio that designs and produces bespoke immersive experiences using virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and spatial audio. Founded in 2018 and operating from Los Angeles, the studio was created by Jessica Brillhart, formerly Google's Principal Filmmaker for VR and Director of the Mixed Reality Lab at USC Institute for Creative Technologies (where she oversaw research for the Army Research Lab, Office of Naval Research, and DARPA). The studio's portfolio spans more than a dozen named VR and AR works, including Beethoven's Fifth (with the Philharmonia Orchestra and Esa-Pekka Salonen for NASA's Voyager 40th Anniversary), Navajo Nation (with Google Spotlight Stories), Resonance (with violinist Tim Fain), DeepDream VR (with Google Artists and Machine Intelligence), Rio de Los Angeles (with Verizon, RYOT, and Frank Gehry), Procession (with Droga5 and National Wildlife Federation for Tribeca), 7 Sounds (with Sam Green for Sundance and SXSW), Conditions at Omaha (with The Weather Channel and Kenny G), Midnight Sunrise (Times Square Art Alliance), Go, Habs, Go! (Montreal Canadiens), and Peanut Butter Jelly Time VR.

The studio's core proprietary platform is Traverse, an audio-driven AR system that turns audio recordings into spatial experiences navigable on mobile devices, developed with Bose and winner of the SXSW Special Jury Prize for "Future of Experience." Project-based professional services constitute the primary revenue stream, with the studio offering advisory, research and development, ideation, creative direction, user experience design, and interface design; a secondary stream delivers education and consulting through public writing, lecturing, and speaking engagements. The go-to-market is enterprise field sales driven by direct engagement with cultural institutions, brands, corporations, and artists, supplemented by founder-led thought leadership via the CONTEXT Substack newsletter, Medium articles, and festival presence at Tribeca, Sundance, and SXSW. No publicly disclosed pricing exists; engagements are custom-quote based. The company is privately held, bootstrapped, and operates with 1-10 employees.

Name

Vrai Pictures

Legal name

Vrai Pictures

Website

https://vrai.pictures

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Vrai Pictures is an extended reality content studio founded in 2018 by Jessica Brillhart (ex-Google Principal Filmmaker for VR) that designs bespoke VR, AR, AI, and spatial audio experiences for cultural institutions, brands, government, and nonprofits, anchored by its proprietary Traverse immersive audio platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Immersive Media Production

NAICS

Motion Picture and Video Production (512110), Motion Picture and Video Industries (5121)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture & Video Tape Production (7812)

akta.pro primary industry

Immersive/Interactive Animation (AR/VR/Real-Time) (MPAHACAN)

akta.pro secondary industries

Interactive & Immersive Content Production (AR/VR/3D) (BPAFAIAL), Mobile/Digital Experiential (AR/VR, Interactive Installations) (MPAAAGAI)

Keywords

• Immersive media production
• Spatial audio experiences
• Augmented reality content
• Virtual reality studio
• Mixed reality experiences

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Creative Services and Production: Project-based creative services including advisory roles, production, research and development, ideation, creative direction, user experience design, and interface design for immersive experiences.
2. Education and Consulting: Educational services including writing, lecturing, and speaking engagements on VR/AR technology and immersive storytelling.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Vrai Pictures is an extended reality content studio that designs, develops, and produces immersive experiences in VR, AR, AI, and spatial audio for cultural institutions, brands, and artists. Its work spans custom creative services (advisory, production, ideation, creative direction, UX/UI design), proprietary platform development (Traverse Immersive Audio Platform), and a portfolio of released VR/AR experiences such as Procession, 7 Sounds, and Rio de Los Angeles.

Product overview

Vrai Pictures is an award-winning creative studio that designs and builds immersive experiences using virtual reality, augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and immersive audio technologies. The core offering is Traverse, a platform for free-roaming spatial audio experiences using audio-driven AR technology on mobile devices. The studio's product portfolio consists of multiple distinct VR and AR experiences spanning fine art (Procession, Midnight Sunrise), conservation (Rio de Los Angeles, Navajo Nation), documentary (World Tour, Resonance, Go, Habs, Go!), music (7 Sounds), weather/meme culture (Conditions at Omaha, Peanut Butter Jelly Time VR), and AI-art (DeepDream VR, Beethoven's Fifth). Beyond product creation, Vrai Pictures also offers creative services including advisory, research and development, ideation, creative direction, user experience design, interface design, and education/outreach.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Traverse Immersive Audio Platform A proprietary audio-driven AR platform for free-roaming spatial audio experiences; using a mobile device, each experience turns an audio recording into a navigable sound field users can physically move through, hear from different perspectives, and watch morph around them. Sold/licensed as a platform to brands (e.g., Bose) and creative partners.
• Creative Services and Production Project-based creative services including advisory, production, research and development, ideation, creative direction, user experience design, and interface design for custom immersive VR/AR/spatial audio experiences. Targeted at cultural institutions, brands, corporations, and artists.
• Education and Consulting Educational services including writing, lecturing, and speaking engagements on VR/AR technology and immersive storytelling, delivered to industry, academic, and corporate audiences.
• Procession An augmented reality fine-art experience combining animation, collage, and archival footage into an interactive soundscape presenting near-future global unrest and environmental destruction. Available as an iOS and Android app; selected for Tribeca Film Festival.
• 7 Sounds An immersive live-streamed audio-video work weaving seven audio recordings into a meditation on the power of sound to bend time, cross borders, and shape perception. Officially selected at Sundance Film Festival and SXSW.
• Rio de Los Angeles An immersive bilingual AR mobile experience inviting users to learn about the history, complexities, and potential of the Los Angeles River system, developed with Frank Gehry and OLAN for Verizon and RYOT.
• Peanut Butter Jelly Time VR An immersive VR homage to the 2002 flash animation meme Peanut Butter Jelly Time, featuring the Buckwheat Boyz music.
• Beethoven's Fifth A VR experience journeying into interstellar space featuring a performance of Beethoven's Fifth by the Philharmonia Orchestra, London, conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen, produced as part of NASA's Voyager 40th Anniversary and Golden Record celebration.
• Midnight Sunrise A fine-art digital installation by Isabela Virtual bringing a color gradient into motion across Times Square screens as part of the Midnight Moment program, with consulting and curation by Vrai Pictures.
• DeepDream VR A stereoscopic VR video experience in which 360-degree camera footage is processed through Google's DeepDream machine learning algorithm, generating a psychedelic visual transformation of the original video.
• Conditions at Omaha A three-minute VR experience surrounding the viewer with four local weather forecasts from Omaha, Nebraska televised in the 1990s on The Weather Channel, accompanied by Kenny G's smooth jazz.
• Resonance A VR experience exploring the birth and life of a piece of music starring violinist Tim Fain, co-directed by Jessica Brillhart and Sam Green.
• World Tour A 360-degree VR documentary journeying through real-world locations including Iceland, Japan, Puerto Rico, and the Arecibo Observatory, featuring spatial audio.
• Navajo Nation A VR documentary transporting viewers to Monument Valley to study four scenes of modern Navajo life, produced in collaboration with the Navajo Nation of Bluff, Utah.
• Go, Habs, Go! A VR documentary in which a legend remembers his life on the ice, featuring voice-over by Jean Béliveau in collaboration with the Montreal Canadiens; a Quebecois version is available.

Quantifiable outcome

• 708,160 views for Peanut Butter Jelly Time VR

Named customers7 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• BosecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBose partnered with Vrai Pictures on the Traverse Immersive Audio Platform AR development. Traverse is Bose's AR platform, and Vrai Pictures developed the platform which won the SXSW 2019 Special Jury Prize for Future of Experience.
• VerizoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVerizon collaborated with Vrai Pictures and RYOT on Rio de Los Angeles AR experience, bringing an augmented reality art installation to Los Angeles in partnership with Frank Gehry, OLAN, and River LA.
• Droga5coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDroga5 collaborated with Vrai Pictures on Procession AR app, an augmented reality application exploring human-wildlife coexistence themes, also partnering with National Wildlife Federation, Squint/Opera, and Q Department.
• Google Artists and Machine IntelligencecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerGoogle Artists and Machine Intelligence program collaborated with Vrai Pictures on DeepDream VR project, exploring AI-generated visual experiences.
• Philharmonia Orchestra LondoncoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPhilharmonia Orchestra collaborated with Vrai Pictures and conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen on Beethoven's Fifth VR experience, a virtual reality reimagining of the classical composition.
• NASA Jet Propulsion LaboratorycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory partnered with Vrai Pictures on multiple immersive projects, leveraging space exploration content for VR/AR experiences.
• Frank GehryminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRenowned architect Frank Gehry collaborated with Vrai Pictures on Rio de Los Angeles AR experience, an augmented reality art installation in Los Angeles.
• National Wildlife FederationcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational Wildlife Federation partnered with Vrai Pictures and Droga5 on Procession AR app, exploring human-wildlife coexistence themes.
• RYOTcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ DistributorRYOT collaborated with Vrai Pictures and Verizon on Rio de Los Angeles AR experience, serving as a production and distribution partner for immersive content.
• Esa-Pekka SalonencoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerConductor and composer Esa-Pekka Salonen collaborated with Vrai Pictures and Philharmonia Orchestra London on Beethoven's Fifth VR experience.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Within (Within Unlimited): Within is a VR storytelling and immersive content studio that produces and distributes high-profile VR films and series, overlapping directly with Vrai Pictures' VR documentary and immersive experience work for cultural and brand clients.
• Baobab Studios: Baobab Studios is a leading VR animation and interactive storytelling studio behind award-winning immersive shorts. It competes directly with Vrai Pictures for narrative VR talent, festival placement, and brand-funded immersive IP.
• Felix & Paul Studios: Felix & Paul Studios produces high-end VR/AR immersive documentaries and branded experiences, including work for NASA and cultural institutions — a directly comparable peer to Vrai's VR documentary work with NASA JPL and the Navajo Nation.
• Magnopus: Magnopus is an immersive content and experience studio creating VR/AR/XR work for entertainment, brands, and cultural institutions — closely comparable to Vrai's enterprise creative services across VR, AR, and spatial audio.
• Here Be Dragons (formerly VRse): Here Be Dragons is a VR/AR storytelling studio producing immersive branded content and narratives, overlapping with Vrai Pictures' work for brands (Verizon, Bose) and cultural institutions.
• Penrose Studios: Penrose Studios produces award-winning VR cinematic and interactive experiences, directly comparable to Vrai Pictures' narrative VR work (Beethoven's Fifth, Resonance) and festival positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Meow Wolf: Meow Wolf is a larger-scale experiential art and immersive installation company whose fine-art AR/VR-adjacent installations (Times Square's Midnight Moment comparable) compete with Vrai's art-installation work like Midnight Sunrise.
• RYOT: RYOT (now part of VICE) is an immersive content and VR production company that partnered with Vrai on Rio de Los Angeles and serves as both collaborator and broader immersive content competitor for branded AR/VR campaigns.

Emerging players

• Owlchemy Labs: Owlchemy Labs is an XR/VR development studio building immersive games and experiences. While more game-focused, it overlaps with Vrai's emerging-technology creative work and competes for similar immersive-talent pools.
• Superbright: Superbright is an AR/VR development studio that has served as Vrai's technical collaborator (Rio de Los Angeles, Traverse) and is a comparable emerging immersive-content development peer targeting brand and cultural clients.

Market position

Strengths2 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/vrai_pictures

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Vrai Pictures