LEARNING PROGRAMMES
Since 2021, Immersive Ireland has delivered more than 30 immersive learning events, supporting over 3,000 people across the creative industries to build skills in advanced media production. We design every programme in-house to respond to the changing needs of the screen sector.
Our programmes are research-led and shaped by our own practice as makers. We bring international leaders in XR, virtual production and real-time technologies together with practitioners across the island of Ireland and the UK, from curious beginners to experienced makers.
STORY X
NEXT GENERATION STORYTELLING
STORY X (2024–2025) was a hybrid training programme that brought international XR leaders together with practitioners from across the island of Ireland, sharing the key skills behind next-generation storytelling.
12 x Masterclass Speakers and Trainers facilitated skills development through the presentation of 5 x Award-Winning projects with ground-breaking technologies at their centre.
The series - a combination of online masterclasses and in-person labs - was open to creatives at every level, from curious beginners to experienced makers, including:
Filmmakers | Artists | New Media Practitioners | Storytellers | Writers | Directors | Producers | Sound Designers | Animators | Game Makers | Programmers | XR Developers
INTERACTIVE XR FOR GOOD
With May Abdalla & Barry Gene Murphy of ANAGRAM
Thursday 20th February 2025 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
Maker’s Work in Focus
IMPULSE: PLAYING WITH REALITY
IMPULSE is a 40 minute interactive mixed reality documentary about how you make sense of the world around you, told through the stories of four people who are coming to terms with the decisions which have charted their lives. Exploring the extreme side of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Impulse brings together sharp-witted gameplay and dramatic first-hand accounts of people whose intense emotions lead them to a life at the edge. Immersive Achievement Prize @Venice International Film Festival 2024.
The narrative is then embodied through the haptic garment, which vibrates in areas of the body often affected by pain or discomfort mapped to the breast lymph nodes of the chest, underarm, and back. The resulting work brings together the personal and the collective, the abstract and the representational, the mythical and the experiential in an intimate exploration of eco-psychosocial models of human- nonhuman-landscape interaction.
GOLIATH: PLAYING WITH REALITY
GOLIATH is a 25-minute animated VR experience about schizophrenia, gaming and connection. Echo guides you through the many realities of Goliath, a man who spent years isolated in psychiatric institutions but finds connection in multiplayer games. Combining heart-felt dialogue, mesmerising visuals and symbolic interactions, weave through multiple worlds to uncover Goliath’s poignant story. Grand Jury Prize @ Venice International Film Festival 2021.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
VR & MR as story mediums | Socially engaged XR | The research and development process | Creative teams for XR projects | Interactivity | World building | Animation for XR | Funding and distribution models | Tools for learning
Our Speakers
Creative Director
May Abdalla is an award-winning XR creator, speaker and consultant. She has made documentaries around the world for BBC, Channel 4 and Al Jazeera about housing, revolution and punk music. She is interested in using technology to allow audiences to become part of the story.
Technical Director
Barry Gene Murphy
Barry Gene Murphy is a Multi Award winning, Emmy Nominated Writer-Director, who started out in Documentary & Animation. Murphy has a technical background, acquired through his studies at IADT and the RCA, London. Having worked throughout the spectrum of moving image for the past 18 years, he stepped into XR in 2015.
MYTHOLOGIES OF PLACE AND BODY
With Tara Boath Mooney, Maf’J Alvarez &
Camille Baker
Thursday 16th January 2025 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
Maker’s Work in Focus
MAMMARY MOUNTAIN (2024) is an intimate, immersive virtual reality (VR) and embodied haptic experience that explores disease within the body and its relationship to the broader context of the land. These pressing themes and social realities are explored through the prism of one of the artists, Tara Baoth Mooney’s, experience of breast cancer, interwoven with other patients’ and survivors’ stories of their cancer treatment, trauma, and recovery. “Patients” are slowly dressed in a mammography gown, over which a specially designed haptic garment is wrapped. Each participant also wears a VR headset while sitting in a bespoke chair.
The narrative is then embodied through the haptic garment, which vibrates in areas of the body often affected by pain or discomfort mapped to the breast lymph nodes of the chest, underarm, and back. The resulting work brings together the personal and the collective, the abstract and the representational, the mythical and the experiential in an intimate exploration of eco-psychosocial models of human- nonhuman-landscape interaction.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
Artistic and socially engaged XR | Participatory practices for VR | The making process | Sensitive subjects and the immersive experience | Haptics | Installation | Feminist XR practices | Creative teams for VR projects | Funding and distribution models | Tools for learning
Our Speakers
Visual Artist
Tara Boath Mooney
Tara Boath Mooney is an interdisciplinary sound and visual artist and performer based in Ireland. Mooney uses the senses to explore the aural, olfactory ritualistic and performative ecologies of non human and human entities. She recently completed an eco-psychosocial practice led PhD which focused on the inter-relationship of humans, lived experience, and the non-human elements that surround people within personal eco-systems. Tara works with the clumsy giantess to explore these elements.
Technical Director
Maf’J Alvarez
Maf’J Alvarez is a UK-based visual artist, UX designer, and creative technologist from Brighton. She produces poetic VR works in Unity3D at Root Interactive and is the founder of Inkibit, Immersive. She is digital arts and virtual reality mentor for the Lighthouse Young Creatives programme and has showcased her artwork at National Gallery X, Venice Biennale film festival, The Lowry, Vorarlberg museum and Brighton Festival. Maf’j is currently developing MotifXR, a mixed reality social crafting app, and touring her latest collaborative VR title, Mammary Mountain, at film festivals and institutions worldwide.
Technical Director
Camille Baker
Camille Baker is a maker of participatory performance and immersive artwork, she develops methods to explore expressive non-verbal modes of communication, awareness of invisible bodily experience, and extended embodiment in real, extended reality and interactive art contexts, using XR, haptics/ e-textiles, wearable devices and mobile media, now focussing primarily on women’s health experiences. She has an ongoing fascination with all things felt, embodied, sensed, the visceral, emotional, physical, and relational. Camille is the Senior Tutor for the Digital Direction Masters Programme at the Royal College of Art, and a Professor of Interactive & Immersive Arts.
POETIC INTERACTIVE VR
With Celine Daemen & Aron Fels
Thursday 12th December 2024 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
Maker’s Work in Focus
In SONGS FOR A PASSERBY (2023) you will autonomously walk through a musical dreamscape shown in a VR headset. You are following your own 3D mirror image and on the way you will pass by various scenes: a dying horse, a choir of murmuring people, two playing dogs.
Songs for a Passerby is a meditative quest that allows you to step outside reality for a moment and look at yourself. As a puppeteer of your own body you will be entering a poetic space where the melancholy question arises: is this me passing by moments, or is it rather the moments passing by me?
TOPICS IN FOCUS
Transmedia production | The theatrical experience in VR | 6 degrees of freedom VR | Translating the ethereal | Transferable skills for the XR world | The making process | Creative teams for VR projects | The Dutch XR ecosystem | Funding and distribution models | Tools for learning
Our Speakers
Director
Celine Daemen
Celine Daemen is a director of transdisciplinary art. Her work develops at the interface of theatre, music, the visual arts and technology. Celine aims to create sensory experiences that invite the individuals of the audience to introspection. This journey into their inner world takes them to a place where personal associations arise in response to universal philosophical questions. For Songs for a Passerby, she was awarded the Venice Immersive Grand Prize for best immersive experience at the 2023 Venice Biennale. In September 2024, she was President of the Jury at Venice Immersive.
Technical Director
Aron Fels
Aron Fels is a Virtual Reality Art Director. In 2017 he graduated in Immersive Media and Visual Effects at the The Netherlands Film Academy. Inspired by novel techniques he is in search of new ways to express and tell immersive stories. In his design he is looking for worlds of magical realism where romanticism and impressionism are his main sources of inspiration.
THEATRICAL VIRTUAL REALITY
With Pierre-Alain Giraud & Stéphane Foenkinos
Thursday 24th October 2024 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
Maker’s Work in Focus
Simple Silence (2024) This new 360VR experience continues the series’ exploration of our connectedness to the world around us, imbuing the environment with an animistic quality while also blurring the boundary between seeing and being seen. The audience is not a witness to the experience; they are the experience. A Simple Silence confronts us with the uneasiness of our inevitable truths, that every beginning implies an ending, that we are shadows passing through the darkness.
All That Remains (2023) is a 12 minute cinematic VR film that is a meditation on the fluid boundary between dream and reality, fear and desire. It is an invitation to see and be seen.
Over the Rainbow (2022) immerses the audience in a surreal landscape. The experience, like life, does not have a singular plot or meaning. Instead of providing a clear-cut moral message, Over the Rainbow encourages the audience to engage the sensations of the moment and embrace the uncertainty of the unknown.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
Theatre meets the XR world | The theatrical experience in VR | Cinematic VR | Transferable skills for the XR world | The making process | Creative teams for VR projects | The Taiwanese XR ecosystem | Funding and distribution models | Tools for learning
Our Speakers
Creative Director
Craig Quintero
Craig Quintero has written and directed over fifty original image-based performances for theatre, including productions in Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Singapore, China, France, Germany, and the United States. His VR experience, All That Remains, premiered at the 79th Venice Film Festival (2022) and won the prize for Best Immersive Experience at the 2023 Luxembourg Film Festival and Best 360VR Film at the Kaohsiung Film Festival. His second VR experience, Over the Rainbow, premiered at the 2023 Tribeca Film Festival and was selected for the "Best of" section for the 80th Venice Film Festival (2023). The project won the Panorama Prize at the Festival du Noveau Cinema. His most recent project, A Simple Silence, premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival.
Producer / Tech Transformation
Leo, Cheng Shang Li
Leo Cheng Shang Li is the CEO of FUNIQUE, an award-winning VR Studio in Taiwan. FUNIQUE is committed to XR Solutions, providing 8K XR Stereoscopic Content production and 8K XR Live Streaming services, creating high-quality, highly immersive interactive content in 5G generation. FUNIQUE was the production house for all of the above named projects with Craig Quintero.
AUGMENTED REALITY THEATRE
With Pierre-Alain Giraud & Stéphane Foenkinos
Thursday 24th October 2024 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
Maker’s Work in Focus
NOIRE / COLORED
Alabama, 1955. Months before Rosa Parks, 15-year-old Claudette Colvin refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger, and history largely forgot her. Noire brings her story back. It’s an augmented reality installation that combines digital art and live performance, and it puts the audience inside a key moment of the American civil rights movement. Noire won the Award for Best Immersive Work at the first Immersive Competition at the Festival de Cannes in 2024.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
AR as a Story Medium | Interactive Installation | Theatre Meets XR | AR and Advocacy | The Making Process | Creative Teams for AR Projects | The French XR Ecosystem | Funding and Distribution Models | Tools for Learning
Our Speakers
Technical Director
Pierre-Alain Giraud
Pierre-Alain Giraud is a French director & producer, winner of 2024 best immersive experience at the Cannes Festivalwith Noire / Colored, co-directed with Stéphane Foenkinos. He collaborated with artists like Björk (directing the Victimhood music video) or Sigur Rós, and also works for theatre, directing films projected on stage, collaborating with world class stage directors. He co-founded Novaya, company creating immersive experiences along with the technologies supporting them. His works (documentaries, short fictions, immersive experiences) were selected in the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Festival and other film festivals (BFI London, CPH:DOX, Lux film fest, etc.). He holds both a master in engineering (ENSAM) and filmmaking (London Film School).
Director
Stéphane Foenkinos
Stéphane Foenkinos started in the film world in the 1990’s, first as a casting director (Harry Potter’s The Goblet of Fire) and later as a screenwriter and director, (Jealous and Delicacy with Audrey Tautou). His work has twice been nominated for the César Awards. His first foray into the world of AR was working with Pierre-Alain Giraud on Noire / Colored, an immersive exhibition based on Noire by Tania de Montaigne which he previously adapted for the stage. This co-production had its world premiere at the Centre Pompidou in April 2023 before an international tour (Milan, Montreal, Taipei, Brussels, etc.). The work was presented at the inaugural immersive segment of the 77th Cannes International Film Festival, taking home the Grand Prize for best XR.
PURPLE XR
XR DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
PURPLE XR was a creative industries training programme aimed at fostering innovation through new collaborative relationships. Sponsored by Creative Ireland's Economic Action Fund, the programme sought to expand XR development and create pathways into commercialising new immersive technologies.
Immersive Ireland designed and delivered a series of open-access webinars and in-person labs to help creatives understand how to apply XR technologies (Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality) in creative business processes.
XR UNPACKED
With Peter Fisher, Co-Founder & CTO of Khora Studios (Denmark)
Thursday 6th July 2023 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
OUR SPEAKER
Sönke works as a producer, stereographer and consultant.
Reallifefilm international GmbH produces feature films, documentaries, commercials and live broadcast content. INVR.SPACE GmbH produces the same genres - but focused on 360° Video, VR and AR / MR formats.
Sönke studied “Film and TV Production” at the Film University Babelsberg (HFF Konrad Wolf - since 2015: University of Film Potsdam - Babelsberg), where he gained his diploma focused on immersive media & stereoscopic 3D. Since then, he's worked on on several 100 Projects for Cinema, TV, Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR / AR) as well as streaming to mobile and Ip based devices.
Sönke founded reallifefilm international GmbH (rlf), a Company highly specialiced in stereoscopic (S3D) filmmaking from development to postproduction, VFX and Research & Development off technologies. In quintessence to working on immersive projects as well as exploring innovative creative fields and technology standarts, he co - founded INVR.SPACE GmbH in 2015.
In fields of R&D, Business and Social Networks we can rely on our long lasting collaborations with partners from research and development institutions, rental houses, post-production facilities, content Marketing / international Distribution Agencys & Technology Partners for Sales.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
Sönke will share valuable insights into commercialising XR tech in the creative industries. He'll focus on:
- insight on the immersive landscape
- accessible technologies across AR / VR & MR
- the latest research developments that will bring immersive storytelling to a higher level
Explore the chances of the Metaverse as a social experience also based on markets and its business opportunities.
VIRTUAL REALITY LANDSCAPES
With Sönke Kirchhof, Founder and CEO of INVR.SPACE & reallifefilm international (Germany)
Thursday 13th July 2023 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
OUR SPEAKER
Peter Fisher is CTO and Co-Founder of Khora, a leading award-winning Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) production studio based in Copenhagen. Coming from the world of Computer Graphics, Animation and Studio Art, Peter has spent 15 years working on pioneering how 3D content can be used in valuable ways, and is paving the way forward for the Scandinavian XR industry.
With 40 full time employees, Khora works across a broad range of industries that include marketing, communication, training, simulation, education, cultural institutions, health tech, contemporary art and more. In their short seven years as a company, Khora has produced more than 400 VR/AR applications.
Khora holds a deep understanding of XR technologies and of how and why businesses and institutions should work within these emerging mediums. They seek out ideas that take full advantage of XR to ensure that they navigate through the hype cycles and focus on its value potential. Khora will only work within XR if there is a true sense of purpose, and they convey concept in a way that one cannot in traditional mediums.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
Peter will share valuable insights into commercialising XR tech in the creative industries. He'll focus on:
- Relevant use cases
- Different approaches across mediums
- Working with creative & technical teams
- Relevant tools for realising immersive experiences
- Value potential and more
CRAFTING IMMERSIVE WORLDS
With Adele Keane, Creative Director of Imvizar (Ireland)
Thursday 20th July 2023 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
OUR SPEAKER
Adele is an innovative producer creating immersive experiences that captivate and inspire audiences. Leading the creative team at Imvizar, she collaborates with top-tier talent to bring to life augmented reality narratives that transcend the limits of storytelling. With a wealth of multimedia experience from live-action films to large-scale 3D productions, Adele combines her skills in storytelling, technology and production to deliver immersive experiences that seamlessly blend the virtual and real worlds.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
Adele will share valuable insights into commercialising XR tech in the creative industries through her experience with Imvizar. She'll focus on different types of XR experiences (across Virtual, Mixed and Augmented Reality) as well as:
STAGES OF PRODUCTION:
PRE-PRODUCTION
Idea generation, concept development, Storyboarding and Scriptwriting,
Creating a comprehensive production plan and timeline, Sourcing talent
PRODUCTION
- Asset creation and management (3D models, textures, animations, audio, - Designing and building the experience, Testing
POST-PRODUCTION
- Optimising performance and ensuring compatibility across devices/platforms - Distribution and marketing
- Showcasing successful XR experiences
- Best Practices
- Industry insights and trends
- Case Studies
Accessibility in XR
With Nicole Stewart Rushworth, Digital Catapult (UK)
Thursday 27th July 2023 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
OUR SPEAKER
Nicole is an Immersive Technologist at Digital Catapult, a UK government backed non-profit working to accelerate the adoption of emerging technologies across the UK. She has been with Digital Catapult for 7 years specialising in Immersive technology, managing the network of Immersive Labs and supporting Digital Catapult’s various programmes. With a background in theatre and technology, she has worked with creators and developers to realise their projects, provide business and technical support, and educate organisations about immersive technologies.
Digital Catapult works across a range of emerging technologies from Immersive through to the Internet of Things, 5G, AI and Machine Learning, Distributed Technologies, and more recently, Quantum Technology. Through a range of programmes and projects, Digital Catapult looks to support growing technologies in the creative and manufacturing sectors with facilities that underpin much of their work.
Recently, Digital Catapult has been looking at cross technology application areas including metaverse and virtual environments. Digital Catapult's flagship Virtual Production Test Stage and now the forthcoming Advanced Media Production (AMP) capability allow for companies of all sizes to explore how these new technologies will impact both the screen industries and wider use cases.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
Nicole will share valuable insights into commercialising XR tech in the creative industries through her experience with Digital Catapult. She'll focus on:
- Pathways into immersive
- Creating and maintaining accessible Immersive spaces that are helpful and supportive for the immersive industry
- Taking Immersive content on tour, practicalities of distribution, licensing, and getting people into headsets
- From Idea to Prototype, Demonstrator to Distribution - things to consider in the lifecycle of immersive content
- How Digital Catapult supports businesses / start-ups to work with XR technologies
FUTUREPROOF
XR PRODUCTION PROGRAMME
Futureproof was an open-access hybrid programme of masterclasses and labs that demystified the XR production process. Working alongside industry pioneers, thinkers and makers, participants explored how creative technologies and processes are converging across the creative industries, and how to apply that in their own creative development.
Created by Immersive Ireland, Futureproof was kindly supported by Screen Ireland.
XR EXPORT: A GUIDE TO DISTRIBUTION & FESTIVALS
With Mária Rakušanová, Immersive Curator, Raindance (UK)
Thursday 15th June 2023 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
OUR SPEAKER
Mária is an award winning Executive Producer and Curator. In 2016 she kickstarted Raindance Immersive which she established as the XR strand of Raindance Film Festival in London. In 2020 she launched the virtual version of the festival in VRChat, connecting artists and game developers with highly engaged social VR communities from all around the world. In 2021 and 2022 she expanded the festival to further social VR platforms such as Engage, AltspaceVR, NEOS VR and Horizon Worlds. Mária has led Business Development, Content Acquisitions and Partnerships for HTC VIVE, Microsoft and Samsung. She drives efforts to create a community of creators who push the boundaries of XR development and strives to help create a path of profitability for the industry.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
– XR festivals and their audiences
– How to get noticed and selected by XR curators
– Ingredients an award-winning XR project
– From physical to virtual showcase – practicalities of showcasing your work
– Mixed Reality – adding a new dimension to storytelling. Requirements for the set design of your showcase
– Virtual World Building – learnings from the community of pioneering builders of the Metaverse
– Bridging the physical and virtual – presenting your work from within the Metaverse, and how to master a presentation as a virtual Avatar speaker.
THE DARK ART OF DEVELOPING VR
With Clarice Hilton, Immersive Developer
Thursday 25th May 2023 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
OUR SPEAKER
Clarice Hilton is a creative technologist and PhD candidate at Goldsmiths University. In her PhD she is developing design processes and tools for immersive experience design that centre disability. Neurodivergent herself, Clarice has been collaborating with other disabled creators in this process to navigate and disrupt the inaccessibility of the technology. Her work centres around novel engaging ways of interacting in immersive technology which centre access. She has been working in immersive technology making since 2015 and has toured work globally at Tribeca Film Festival, IDFA Doclab, Sandbox Immersive Festival, SXSW and Venice Film Festival.
A recent collaboration Figural Bodies (2023) was premiered at SXSW, the piece was part of Clarice's PhD research and the culmination of workshops with disabled dancers exploring how to find joy in movement and self expression, whilst navigating the inaccessibility of technology. The piece exists as a live performance piece streaming MOCAP data of two dancers into the digital world where they seek to connect. There is also a VR version with recordings of the MOCAP data alongside autoethnographic words from the dancers.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
Get started with VR / immersive world building tools that will help you start creating VR experiences.
The masterclass will explore the different pathways of creating and developing VR from in-headset world building to developing in unity and unreal engine. We will also examine the tech/hardware requirements for different VR development settings. Discover:
- The landscape of immersive technologies : the opportunities and affordances of immersive tech
- Tools for creation : an overview of the creation tools available to make immersive technology
- Games engines : Unity and Unreal
- Web VR - A frame, Three.js, Babylon.js
- 360 video : Games Engine or Video editor?
- In headset world making : Horizon worlds, Rec Room and more
- Prototyping tools : Tiltbrush, Gravity Sketch
- Mocap tools : high end to low end
- Networked worlds
- Different skillsets needed in the making of immersive content
- Powerful prototyping processes for immersive content making
- Accessible interaction design tools and practice
SPATIAL SOUND PRODUCTION
With Matteo Milani, Spatial Sound Designer
Thursday 4th May 2023 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
OUR SPEAKER
Matteo Milani is an award-winning sound designer, sound artist and lecturer at the European Institute of Design. Along with producing and delivering sound libraries under the moniker "Unidentified Sound Object", he also creates experimental music and designs surround sound for multimedia installations and live events. Thanks to his background in various sound disciplines, ranging from television and radio commercials to sound for mobile devices and virtual spaces, he has developed a deep sense of creative storytelling. In addition to his daily audio production and post-production work, which includes the creation of sound libraries, he also composes music and immersive sound for audiovisual events and installations.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
The need for realistic, immersive sound is bigger than ever before. In the real world, we perceive sound “binaurally,” literally meaning with two ears. What real 3D audio is ultimately about is guiding our ears to “localize” a sound emanating from a particular direction and distance via headphones.
This workshop is focused on the art of producing 3D spatial sound. Explore real-world production work-flows for immersive storytelling, combining sound design with spatial mixing techniques. Discover:
- Introduction to Ambisonics
- Basic Principles of the Ambisonics soundfield
- Ambisonics microphones
- Practical techniques for encoding/decoding audio to Ambisonics
- Spatial Audio for film & video games, music, VR & AR
Please bring your headphones to get full benefit of the experiments / experience!
VR CINEMATOGRAPHY
With Lewis Ball, VR Cinematographer (UK)
Thursday 13th April 2023 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
OUR SPEAKER
Lewis started his career in traditional filmmaking in the camera department, working on a variety of different types of projects including features, commercials, and documentaries before finding his way into the immersive sector. His background in the camera department has allowed him to (somewhat) seamlessly adapt his skills into 360-degree filmmaking, and when the industry started booming in 2015 he found himself traveling the world making all sorts of different content for clients like National Geographic, Sky and Samsung. His has worked on numerous "VR for good" projects and has made a significant impact by producing creative documentaries that highlight critical issues and raise awareness globally.
Lewis's most recent project is Conquest of the Skies with David Attenborough. This awe-inspiring VR 180 docu-series explores the evolution of flight, offering an unparalleled immersive journey that is both stimulating on the senses but also educates, informs, and enlightens audiences.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
This masterclass is focused on how to create compelling content in immersive 180 and 360 video formats. We aim to provide newcomers to immersive storytelling and media practitioners interested in learning about the basics of VR as it applies to to both non-fiction and fiction content. No experience with cameras or software is needed. This course is designed to give you an overview of the first steps into shooting immersive content
This exciting masterclass will explore VR cinematography and cover the following areas:
- VR camera systems and differences between monoscopic and stereoscopic shooting
- Lenses, sensors, framerates and image capture
- Static shots vs moving shots, methodology and best practices
- Identity of the spectator in VR
- Key differences between 360 video and traditional media and understanding the usage cases of 360 video and how the medium should be utilised efficiently
- Looking into dynamics and designing engaging shots
PRODUCING & DESIGNING CREATIVE VR
With Darren Emerson, Immersive Artist, Director, Writer, Producer & Co-Founder of East City Films & Dan Tucker, Immersive Curator & Executive Producer (UK)
Thursday 15th June 2023 // 1230pm - 2pm (GMT+1)
OUR SPEAKERS
Darren Emerson
Darren comes from the film world and has transition his skills into the immersive space. He created his first VR experience in 2015 - Witness 360: 7/7 which exhibited at IDFA Doc Lab and toured festivals internationally. His VR documentary Indefinite (2016) won the inaugural Immersive Commission by Sheffield Doc/Fest and went on to be licensed by the New York Times, in a specially commissioned New York Times Op Ed.
In 2018 Darren was commissioned by Creative XR (Digital Catapult and Arts Council England) to create the room scale documentary Common Ground, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival 2019. It won the awards for Best Immersive Storytelling at Sandbox Immersive Festival, the Grand Prix Innovation at Festival du Nouveau Cinema and Best VR Narrative at the World Press Photo Awards.
In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats (2022) celebrates the Acid House youth culture revolution. This is a multi-sensory VR installation utilising set dressing, ambisonic audio, projections, animation, 360 video, archive, interaction, and haptics. It won the award for Immersive Non Fiction at IDFA Doclab 2022, and will have its US Premiere at SXSW in 2023.
Dan Tucker
Dan is an award winning digital producer and curator with over 25 years of experience of working with broadcasters, digital agencies, startups and international artists. Passionate about interaction and story, Dan works in the intersection between multiple screen industries, from television documentary to virtual reality.
His experience spans the production of TV projects like Charlie Brooker’s How Videogames changed the World to digital projects like the interactive drama Our World War and the VR documentary Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel for the BBC.
As Curator of Alternate Realities for Sheffield International Documentary festival, Dan created a touring exhibition of digital art and documentary showcasing ground breaking immersive and Interactive works from the Guardian, Greenpeace and the BBC.
More recently Dan has been a Commissioning Exec for BBC Arts & Arts Council England’s New Creatives, Head of Partnerships for York Mediale, Researcher for the BFI and Producer of the CreativeXR project Dazzle 2021.
TOPICS IN FOCUS
This exciting masterclass will explore both producing and directing VR and cover the following areas:
- Directing 360 video
- Working with development teams in immersive production
- Understanding VR environments (3 and 6 Degrees of Freedom)
- Understanding the power of interaction
- Scripting and storyboarding in VR
- The challenges and positive outcomes of working in VR
- Looking to the future of the medium with work that pushes the boundaries in both the virtual and physical space
IMMERSIVE WEXFORD
VR & VIRTUAL PRODUCTION SERIES
Designed and delivered by Linda Curtin for Screen Wexford
As Film & TV Coordinator at Screen Wexford, Curtin (founder of Immersive Ireland) saw early on that immersive technologies could shape the future of Ireland’s screen industries. From 2020, she began researching new technological advancements in the screen sector. That research became Immersive Wexford, a programme of online masterclasses and in-person labs in VR, AR and virtual production. It was open to local and national IRL practitioners, new entrants and the wider Irish film sector.
Immersive Wexford was one of the first regional programmes of its kind in Ireland, and it laid the groundwork for the training Immersive Ireland delivers today.