#immersiveadventures

WIP demonstration video. This shows some of the elements being brought together but we still have a lot more work to do. 

The project challenges some of the deterministic language that currently surrounds VR, such as immersion and presence, and the belief that a combination of the two can provoke empathy.

Frustratingly Unity has stopped support for green screen, so we instead had to use a workaround that left the characters slightly transparent. Luckily this wasn’t as noticeable in VR. 

On-boarding narration explaining the story of Weegee and Beetle and the virtual scene they are about to enter. The narration is accompanied by a piece of Mexican cinema soundtrack from the 1940′s which we will also use in the scene (the music is out of copyright). 

Finding a 1940′s police costume. Hat: Ebay £2. Badge: Amazon $1. Jacket: Ebay £4 second hand women’s coat. Luckily film hides the imperfections. 

We paid close attention to the lighting and shadows in the original photograph and the planned positions for our characters in the scene - to ensure the lighting seemed correct. We also had to consider where the viewer would likely be stood in the virtual scene, when these videoed characters appeared. We tried to position the characters in relation to the camera, as they would be to the viewer. Hopefully this makes the perspective feel more natural to the viewer.

Three radio calls to be triggered at different points in the experience. Each call features a genuine clue from the murder. 

With these technical ideas in place, I began to write a script that incorporated them. I used police records about Beetle’s murder, newspaper clippings, and Weegee’s memoirs to write nonlinear scripted historical fiction for three characters that would appear in the scene when the viewer interacted with specific things. The characters were: A police chief coming from the car radio (audio only), a police man that walks in to scene and introduces aspects of the scene (video), and a women that shouts down from a window (video). I also wrote introductory on-boarding narration.