Talking about VR

Virtual Reality: Documentary Outside the Frame

Virtual Reality has quickly become the most-talked about technology in the media industry. From the BBC to Hollywood, media-makers around the globe are experimenting with VR as an entirely new way to tell stories. But what are the opportunities for non-fiction storytellers in a medium that puts the audience at the centre of the action?

This session brings together Australian and international pioneers in documentary Virtual Reality storytelling to share their experiences and reflect on the opportunities that arise when working in this medium, and the new thinking that the format demands of documentary makers. 

Speakers: Julie Young, Astrid Scott, (Senior Producer/Experience Strategist, ABC) and Katy Morrison (Producer, VRTOV).
Host: Jess Linington (Researcher/Producer, i-Docs / VRTOV


AIDC 2016 Virtual Reality Podcast

Theatre Director, Enrique Vargas and Artist and Filmmaker, Lynette Wallworth both create immersive works that explore bold new ways of telling and experiencing stories. In Echo of the Shadow, Vargas invites the audience to enter a sensorial labyrinth, a singular experience of looking, listening, smelling, tasting and touching.

In Collisions, audiences are taken on a virtual journey to the remote Western Australian desert where Martu elder, Nyarri Nyarri Morgan, shares the story of the impact of the 1957 atomic bomb testing on his homelands.

Join Enrique and Lynette in a conversation moderated by Artistic Director Jonathan Holloway about creating immersive worlds, audience interaction and experiential storytelling and their most recent works showing at ACMI as part of Melbourne Festival.

Lynette Wallworth is an acclaimed Australian artist and director whose immersive installations and films reflect connections between people and the natural world, while also exploring fragile human states of grace. Her works use mesmeric environments, interactive technologies and narrative long form to engage with viewers. They have screened at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Smithsonian, Vienna Festival and the London Film Festival.

Enrique Vargas is a Colombian dramaturge and anthropologist who is renowned for his immersive and experiential theatre works. He began inventing games in the intricate and labyrinthine coffee plantations typical of the Andes surroundings where he grew up. His productions include Ariadna’s Thread, Oraculos and The Memory of the Wine, amongst many more, which have shown at Taipei Performing Arts Center, World Theatre Festival Shizuoka, London International Festival and the Theatre Festival Iberoamericano de Teatro de Bogotá.

Creating Worlds: Lynette Wallworth And Enrique Vargas In Conversation

Our latest VR Commission, Ghosts, Toast and the Things Unsaid is an intimate virtual reality experience that invites audiences to become the ghosts of couple, Steve and Maude, and revisit the kitchen where they fell in love, grew old and apart. The work provokes a meditation on our propensity to keep secrets, the words that go unheard, and what this means for our relationships.

Ghosts, Toast and the Things Unsaid

What is the current state of play of VR both here and abroad and how is VR being applied to immersive and interactive filmmaking? Moderator Astrid Scott (Senior Producer and Strategist, ABC Research and Development) will be joined by Katy Morrison, VRTOV, Emre Can Deniz, Opaque Media Group, James Boyce, Grumpy Sailor and Scott Vandonkelaa, Zero Latency as they discuss the breadth of VR experimentation, different production approaches and the current funding and distribution landscape.

VR: The State of Play

How can traditional screen content creators utilise their skills in the contemporary screen form of VR? Moderator Christy Dena (Writer-Designer-Director at Universe Creation) and VR content creators including Oscar Raby and Katy Morrison VRTOV, Nathan Anderson StartVR, Dan Koerner Sandpit and Michael Beets PLaTO Reality share the creative possibilities and complexities of writing, shooting and editing VR for dramatic and meaningful effect.

VR: Content Creation

Whilst VR technology is still relativity in its infancy, it is the entrepreneurs, innovators and technical enthusiasts at the forefront of content creation as they test, trial and experiment with this rapidly emerging technology. In this session, VR specialists discuss VR technologies including 360 filming, interactive VR experiences (real time engines), spacial audio techniques  and post production pathways. Moderated by Emily Harridge, Founder of Visual Playround and PLaTO Realityand featuring Piers Mussared, Jumpgate VR, Emre Deniz, Opaque Media Group and Sally-Anne Kellaway, Zero Latency.

VR: Brave New World

Delia Hou, NVIDIA VR Business Development & Sales, discusses NVIDIA‘s investment in developing NVIDIA VR Works to help the VR ecosystem grow, improve, and succeed. Delia will also share how NVIDIA is helping VR developers to create world class content, as well as providing opportunities to showcase their work at NVIDIA events and facilitate global business partnerships.

Mike Chi, VR New Technology, discusses the HTC VIVE, its role in VR and how it can be applied to a range of other industry applications including VR gaming, film production and education. Mike will introduce the VIVE X Accelerator program - designed to support startups and to provide education, investment and mentorship - and share his thoughts on the next big trends in VR technology.

VR: NVidia + HTC

Tea Uglow, Creative Director Google Creative Lab
 Nils Pokel, Digital Experience Manager Auckland War Memorial Museum 
Sarah Tutton, Senior Curator ACMI

VR has been going through yet another cyclical revival
driven largely by improvements in hardware resulting in
a new surge of public interest. With content relatively
scarce, there has been a huge investment from many
different sectors in content creation. Several museums
have jumped on the bandwagon with VR exhibits, 360
degree video presentations, and even rumors of loaning
Hololens to visitors much as they have done historically
with audio guides. How is this moment different from
the 1990s and 2000s? Where are the truly exciting
opportunities for museums? And how do we get beyond
just having to manage visitor expectations and the
resultant problems with ‘more tech’?

VR —hype, hope or just hard?

Storytelling is at the core of all human art. Storytelling provides a way of sharing and interpreting experiences, bringing an understanding and meaning of human existence. Throughout history, storytelling has evolved through different media from verbal into written, from theatre into film, and now into Virtual Reality. VR is empowering storytellers with new tools and platforms to produce innovative content that immerse the viewer in ways like never before.

In this podcast we discuss the exciting new ways of storytelling in VR (in games and cinematic VR).Exploring topics such as constructing narrative for VR, immersion: how to tell a stories now that the audience is more than just a passive observer, presence, perspective, direction and agency. 

Panellists include: Brendan Croxon, Brooke Maggs, Clea Frost, Piers Mussared and Chris Bailey.

VR: Changing the Rules of Storytelling

How local AR/VR producers can use the global market
VR Plus
Have you heard? By 2020, revenue from Augmented/Virtual Reality is forecast to reach $160 billion. Obviously there has never been a better time to get involved. But what does this mean for AR/VR documentary producers based in Australia? 
With so much investment funding and resources overseas, what is the best way to tap into them? What are the best new global platforms? And what does producing – not to mention distribution – even look like? For many Australians, the answers to these questions continue to lie in collaborating and co-producing internationally, working with funding bodies and initiatives beyond our borders. 
In this session, successful Australian AR/VR producers Katy Morrison (VRTOV) and Melanie Horkan (Fathom Film Group) will discuss moving into the international arena in order to create content. Drawing on their own professional experiences and insights, they will provide expert perspectives on how the Australian industry can maximise creativity and opportunity here at home.

Northern Exposure AIDC 2017

Interactive digital narratives, fully-immersive VR, open source gaming, robots writing novels – what does the future of storytelling look like? What do emerging technological advances mean for writers and artists creating work in the digital era?

Four artists at the forefront of innovation in digital storytelling kicked off Digital Writers' Festival 2017 with a discussion about the impact of interactive digital narratives, virtual reality, geolocated narratives and more in conversation with artistic director Izzy Roberts-Orr.


Copyright acknowledgements: 

Clips Played

Title: Door Into the Dark Trailer
Copyright: Anagram
Link played: https://vimeo.com/97591942
More info: http://weareanagram.co.uk/project/door-into-the-dark/
Title: The Gardens Between 
Copyright: TheVoxelAgents
Link played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmBXEGmQ_og
More info: http://thegardensbetween.com/
Title: The Gardens Between ~ Slow Trailer TEASER
Copyright: TheVoxelAgents
Link played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_AaniqoqfEMore info: http://thegardensbetween.com/
Title: Way From Home 
Copyright: Misha Myers
Link played: N/A
More info: http://profiles.arts.monash.edu.au/misha-myers/biography/
Title: Magic in Modern London: iPhone App Trailer
Copyright: Amblr
Link played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RJ77Q-uiKw
More info: https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/magic-in-modern-london/id555328123
Title: The Turning Forest Making Of 
Copyright: Vrtov
Link played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6C3TBSqMTw
More info: http://vrtov.com/projects/turning-forest/
Title: IS JAPAN COOL? DOU - 道
Copyright: ANA
Link Played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DLHukYrVi8M
More info: https://www.ana-cooljapan.com/contents/dou/
Reading List referenced / not played
Title: Our Friends Electric (excerpt)
Copyright: Superflux and Mozilla
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PsjunTAH-2A
More info: http://superflux.in/index.php/work/friends-electric/#
Title: Her Story Trailer
Copyright: Sam Barlow
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaHw97l7-Lc
More info: http://www.herstorygame.com/
Title: The story of Replika, the AI app that becomes you
Copyright: Replika by Luka inc 
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQGqMVuAk04
More info: https://replika.ai/
Title: A message from Karen | Blast Theory
Copyright: Blast Theory
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqa2gTj2uYI//
More info: https: www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/karen/

ACMI Conversations: The Future of Storytelling

From the surface of the sun to the depths of the prehistoric seas and the earth's orbit, VR continues to open portals onto worlds we could never physically inhabit. What potential does this technology hold for expanding the realms of human experience?

Erth's Scott Wright (Prehistoric VR), artist Jessie Hughes (Soul Of Sol – La Palma) and astrophysicist Professor Alan Duffy (Swinburne Uni) discussed art, tech and science in their latest VR works.

Copyright acknowledgements: 

Clips Played

Title: Mars 2030 
Copyright: Mars 2030 was created by FUSION in collaboration with NASA and is powered by Nvidia GeForce
Link played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prpQB0nlRV8
Purchase / Experience: http://store.steampowered.com/app/510850/Mars_2030/
Title: the Blu: Whale Encounter | 3D 360 VR
Copyright: Transport Wevr
Link played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUpkVa4UkMg
Purchase / Experience: https://www.transportvr.com/theblu-series
Title: Tree VR – Seedling
Copyright: Rainforest Alliance
Link played: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERffRXjTAqM
Purchase / Experience: https://www.treeofficial.com/
Title: Soul of Sol | Inspiration | NASA | Thermonuclear Art – The Sun In Ultra-HD (4K)
Copyright: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center 
Link played: https://vimeo.com/167370549
Title: Soul of Sol | La Palma
Copyright: Jessie Hughes
Link played: https://vimeo.com/167207800
Title: Soul of Sol | Artist Residency
Copyright: Jessie Hughes
Link played: https://vimeo.com/167368978
Images Shown
Prehistoric VR, Erth
http://erth.com.au/
Sci VR,http://www.scivr.com.au/

ACMI Conversations: Art, Science and Tech in VR

In this talk we explore the creative, technical, cultural and collaborative practice of creating VR from personal histories for this moving new work.

A Thin Black Line is an immersive VR experience that follows one family in the aftermath of the bombing of Darwin in 1942, when half the population fled believing a Japanese invasion was imminent. Among them was Indigenous filmmaker Douglas Watkin’s mother, just five-years old at the time.

Director Douglas Watkin, VRTOV's VR director Oscar Raby, artist Vernon Ah Kee and lead 3D artist Kalonica Quigley shared behind-the-scenes footage and early drawings from their unique journey bringing oral storytelling to digital life through graphic and game design.

See A Thin Black Line free from 3 March in the Untold Australia VR Showcase in our permanent exhibition Screen Worlds.

About The Speakers

Douglas Watkin
Brisbane-based Indigenous filmmaker Douglas Watkin was born in Cairns, Far North Queensland. His broadcasting and filmmaking career began in television doing small news reports and producing various corporate videos, and has progressed to feature films, broadcast series and multimedia works for a range of clients and audiences. Douglas has been actively working in the film and television industry for over twenty years, including producing and directing multiple series for ABC and NiTV.

Oscar Raby
Oscar Raby is an award-winning multimedia artist and Creative Director of independent digital production studio VRTOV. His Virtual Reality documentary Assent (2013), about the Chilean dictatorship, has been exhibited world-wide including screening at Sundance New Frontier, IDFA DocLab and Sheffield Doc/Fest where it received the Audience Choice Award for Cross-platform.

Kalonica Quigley
Kalonica is a 3D Artist and Game Developer who has developed award-winning games with small teams and independently. She currently works as Lead 3D Artist at VRTOV, an independent studio that crafts virtual reality experiences at the borderline of film and games.

Vernon Ah Kee
Born in Far North Queensland and currently living in Brisbane, Vernon is a member of the Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidinji and Gugu Yimithirr peoples.

Vernon’s multi-faceted practice includes works that range from large-scale drawings of his ancestors to hard-hitting text-based works and installations. In his work Ah Kee fuses the history and language of colonisation with contemporary black/white political issues in an ongoing investigation of race, colour and politics. Through clever puns and plays on words and objects Ah Kee fuses the history and language of colonisation with contemporary black/white political issues to expose degrees of underlying racism in Australian society.

ACMI Conversations: A Thin Black Line

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Talking about VR

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