Project overview
Escape Now began as an original 360° travel series built around a simple idea: use immersive media not just to show a destination, but to guide audiences through the stories, history and culture that give a place meaning.
Hosted and directed by Tarik Mohamed, episodes transported viewers through destinations including Egypt, Paris, Rome, Florence, London, New York, Washington D.C., Spain, Costa Rica and beyond.
What started as a YouTube series that grew the channel to 100k subscribers and received YouTube’s creator milestone recognition. It has gone on into a broader immersive-content platform spanning VR applications, spatial video, educational licensing and third-party distribution.
Escape Now began as an original 360° travel series built around a simple idea: use immersive media not just to show a destination, but to guide audiences through the stories, history and culture that give a place meaning.
Hosted and directed by Tarik Mohamed, episodes transported viewers through destinations including Egypt, Paris, Rome, Florence, London, New York, Washington D.C., Spain, Costa Rica and beyond.
What started as a YouTube series that grew the channel to 100k subscribers and received YouTube’s creator milestone recognition. It has gone on into a broader immersive-content platform spanning VR applications, spatial video, educational licensing and third-party distribution.
Escape Now
IMMERSIVE STORYTELLING · ORIGINAL IP · TRAVEL & CULTURE · EDUCATION
Distribution & Licensing
Escape Now’s content moved beyond its owned channels through licensing and distribution partnerships, extending the series into educational and institutional environments.
Selected experiences were licensed and distributed through partners including, Amaze VR, Springboard VR, KAI XR and TechRow, while episodes have also appeared in university immersive-media libraries and classroom resources. Penn State’s IMEX Lab, for example, lists the Paris experience as educational media, and the University of South Carolina includes Escape Now in its VR apps library.
Escape Now was even featured in The Balvenie’s Quest for Craft, the award-winning YouTube series hosted by Questlove.
In Chapter 7, “Craft and Place,” Questlove and author Fran Lebowitz explored the relationship between creativity and New York City — taking a visual journey through the city without leaving the legendary Electric Lady Studios.
The challenge was rethinking immersive travel for spatial viewing — from framing and pacing to depth, viewer comfort and where attention is directed within a 180° environment.
We adapted our production and post-production workflow for Apple Vision Pro, while continuing to experiment with spatial conversion and new ways of making the viewer feel less like they are watching a destination and more like they are inside it.
Storytelling in 360°
For Apple Vision Pro, Escape Now evolved into a new episodic VR180° series designed around a more cinematic sense of presence. Each episode uses place as the starting point for exploring the history, culture and stories behind Lisbon.
In Tram 28, the city’s iconic tram becomes the narrative thread, carrying viewers across Lisbon as they move through its neighbourhoods, landmarks and layers of history.
The challenge was rethinking immersive travel for spatial viewing — from framing and pacing to depth, viewer comfort and where attention is directed within a 180° environment.
We adapted our production and post-production workflow for Apple Vision Pro, while continuing to experiment with spatial conversion and new ways of making the viewer feel less like they are watching a destination and more like they are inside it.
For Apple Vision Pro, Escape Now evolved into a new episodic 3D VR180° series designed around a more cinematic sense of presence. Each episode uses place as the starting point for exploring the history, culture and stories behind Lisbon.
Outcome
Escape Now grew from an independently produced 360° travel series into a library of immersive stories with a significant direct audience and applications across VR, education, licensing, branded media and spatial computing.
Its evolution became an ongoing test bed for Overview — not only for immersive filmmaking, but for understanding how stories can adapt as the platforms around them change.
Project Credits
ESCAPE NOW
Original Series by Overview Collective
OVERVIEW COLLECTIVE
Original IP · Creative Direction · Immersive Production · Distribution · Platform Development
TARIK MOHAMED
Creator · Host · Director
KRISTIN GUTEKUNST
Executive Producer · Strategy & Partnerships
PLATFORMS & LICENSING
YouTube · Meta Quest · Apple Vision Pro · Education & Institutional Distribution
See it in action
