Which reality? Musings on Alternate Realities 2018 @ Sheffield Doc Fest
It was 2014, and my first visit to Sheffield Doc Fest where I discovered a room setup with a web of wires, and an otherworldly looking headset which promised to take me into an experience like no other…it was Project Syria, by Nonny de la Pena which transported you to a street corner in Aleppo with its rich sights and sounds based on real content. Fast forward just four years and the headsets aren’t so futuristic looking and the Alternate Realities exhibit at Doc Fest is now an established and much anticipated mainstay of the festival, with a new, much larger home, at the atmospheric 1930s Trafalgar Warehouse.
Kitted out with alluring installations, a range of headsets, projectors and a VR (Virtual Reality) cinema space, you couldn't help but be pulled into a world of intrigue and other realities to see what another year of exploration, experimentation and creation in virtual and augmented reality has produced. Journalists, animators, students, technologists, filmmakers, artists, members of the public, institutions, school children and more were all drawn to the venue which had a busy hum and buzz throughout the festival. The curation of the works into ‘The World Unknown to you’ and ‘Better Known Truths’ was a neat way of signposting the content on offer.
Having myself dabbled in this exciting world of growth in non-fiction/gaming based VR and 360° film, I was particularly interested to see the fruits of creative storytellers this year (and I was not disappointed). Whilst I didn’t get to experience all 27 pieces I saw enough to convince me that this medium continues to allow us to experience in an intimate and profoundly impactful way, powerful, meaningful stories. Using virtual/mixed realities and 360° filming continues to energise, move, motivate and surprise me.
My hopes for coming to the exhibition this year encompassed a few elements:
- Having attended an intro to interactive VR 360° course this year, I was really keen to see projects with an interactive element used to enhance story or experience
- I was curious to see the subject matters/narratives covered and learn about other contexts and areas exploiting the power of this medium other than the NGO/development space which my first 360°/VR film (Aftershock VR) fits into
- I was also hoping to be inspired by, and learn from how these projects are being distributed, received and having an impact in the big wide world due to the obvious challenges of reaching audiences with these works
Interactive
‘The day the world changed’ was an epic, high-end showcase for pushing the technology and ways in which it can be used, in particular by exploring the ‘social’ element that can be brought into VR pieces by ‘stepping into the headset’ at the same time as three other people, and seeing their ‘avatar’ inside the film therefore bringing another element into the experience. This was particularly interesting and did make it feel like the four of us were sharing a powerful, unique experience. The power and magnitude of the issue covered in this piece (Hiroshima after the nuclear bomb was dropped in 1945) is pretty overwhelming outside of a headset, but being surrounded by nuclear missiles was incredibly haunting and confronting about the issue of nuclear arms today. Gabo Arora’s powerful, ambitious piece is a tremendous accomplishment and really did showcase this filmmakers desire to ‘chase the technology’ to fully understand, learn and exploit the latest advances for storytelling and emotional impact on big issues.
In ‘Hold the World with David Attenborough’ another highly sophisticated experience, you find yourself inside London’s Natural History Museum sat opposite Attenborough, able to open desk drawers and pick up objects such as whale bones and move them around to learn more. The interactive elements were really slick and enhanced my ability to learn about the object from being so up close and able to view from multiple angles.
One of my favourite pieces at the festival was ‘Is Anna Ok?’ - a journalistic, interactive VR piece from the BBC which is based on the true story of twins thrown apart by a life changing incident. The interactivity in the piece worked seamlessly and pushed forward the narrative whilst making me the viewer, feel like I was ‘discovering’ more by looking around, noticing and picking up relevant objects with the VR controllers, which in turn triggered more audio in the story. The point of view places the viewer in Anna’s shoes such that when you look down your arms are hers, you are in her outfit and you find yourself in the hospital bed, the centre of a Christmas market and other locations in the film. Other elements such as being presented with a letter from Anna’s twin to read once you take the headset off and the simple but effective ‘set’ where you view the film from all made this feel like a rounded, polished interactive piece which really contributed to my connection to Anna’s story. A powerful way of showing how VR can be used to break through challenging health stories.
A couple of pieces outside of VR headsets but with interactivity struck me too, ‘Belongings’ (video below) which used a mobile phone as a remote control (and for audio) in order to choose and trigger stories of people who had all been displaced from their home countries for various reasons, projected onto a huge wall in front of me. This was very obviously intended for exhibition purposes and due to the ease of using a mobile phone could also be explored for other public spaces. Despite the size of the piece (over 20 ft wide) and being surrounded by others, sat with my headphones, it gave a feeling of intimacy and connectivity which surprised me.
Terminal 3, showcased augmented reality with the HoloLens which was great to see in a nonfiction/journalistic setting. The ability to ‘beam’ holograms into a real space and blend technology with the surroundings you are in is hugely exciting and the simple but effective ‘set build’ set the stage for imagining myself in an airport interrogation room. As the officer I was able to ask questions myself to ‘Helena’ about why she was travelling to LA from Iran. The element of choice for me as the viewer was nice with multiple questions available to ask at various stages. The creative execution is intriguing and forced me to question the approach, but I noticed the imagery change during my ‘conversation’ with Helena where in some circumstances she was more visible, and in others, more like a barcode scan which de-personalised her. It was a powerful visual technique to use in this setting confronting identity, power dynamics, and how we view one another. A great example of a relevant, timely and interesting setting/situation to explore with the technology and showcases the difference of bringing content into a space rather than with VR - transporting you elsewhere.
Subject matters/narratives
In the 'Better Known Truths' section of the exhibition a VR cinema was set up to allow up to nine viewers at one time to watch two films curated into sub-themes. Whilst I only watched two of the themes, one was completely stand out for me - ‘Habitats’. In this segment I watched the light, slick, beautiful, entertaining, informative film ‘The Real Thing’ which really did transport me to somewhere unique that I knew nothing about...China’s Sky Capital City which if you’ve not heard of watch this piece! (I don’t want to give spoilers!) It was a noticeable relief seeing content which wasn’t ‘heavy’ in topic, (despite the fact that I like and think the medium clearly works so well at covering heavy/big/tough issues and stories), and the production values, execution and choice of story were all very inspiring.
Immediately after this film I saw ‘Grenfell: Our Home’ - clearly an emotional and tough piece to embark upon. I was drawn to tears in the headset, as of course the content is topical, timely, raw, and very challenging but it felt like an important watch and a refreshing piece of journalism on Grenfell. The piece focused on the theme of ‘home’ and with a beautiful blend of animation and filmed interviews, painted a picture of life before the fire in Grenfell for some of the victims. It was refreshing to focus on their stories before the horrific incident and it really celebrated diversity and beauty and challenged notions of life in buildings such as Grenfell in London. I was pleased to hear that this film took home the Alternate Realities Audience Award.
Other films with striking subject matters and characters were ‘Mind at War’ and ‘Life after hate: Meeting a Monster’. Both addressed incredibly complex issues and pretty deep/tough topics, but in such a personal, intimate manner you couldn’t help but be drawn in. One focussed on Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the effects of being at war as a soldier, the other, the psychology of fear and hate for one individual, Angela King, who bravely tells and lends her story to this acted piece about the years she spent in the white power movement.
Distribution/impact of VR
One element I felt was lacking from the programme was information on where the films and experiences are being shown/plan to be used. For me, this is such a crucial part of moving forward the growth of this medium and should not be shied away from discussing. Those who have been able to view a film or experience usually exclaim at its impact, however so few have still experienced content like this due to the challenges of mobility and places and spaces to see the content, especially the higher-end and more complex installations. It feels like there really is a need for this to be discussed, shared and addressed further at future festivals. Even just having more information alongside each piece at the exhibition about what the ‘life’ of the piece looks like after the festival would be a nod to acknowledging this important aspect, but actually hearing whether outlets and content producers are committing to promoting and helping inform audiences about how and where to view this type of content is key to the future success of this way of storytelling. I don't feel it's enough to say that content will be posted on the app stores and YouTube, I am interested to hear about ways of encouraging audience update and exploration of these apps with headsets.
Alongside the exhibition a day ‘summit’ is held with talks, panels and presentations and one presentation cannot go without mention - from Al Jazeera’s Zahra Rasool, who is the editorial lead for their new platform ‘Contrast’ which is home to their VR work. Rasool’s eloquent and inspiring talk addressed some important areas such as diversity in makers, representation and authentic content. I look forward to downloading their app and following their progress.
Final thoughts
In summary, I was extremely impressed by this years exhibition, although the challenge of getting the volume of interested people into the experiences still remains. I continue to enjoy and appreciate animation in particular in VR, with its ability to draw you in, move around you and allow a story and world to build in front of the viewer. The blend of animation/graphics and 360° footage enhances storytelling opportunities and interaction can aid understanding, agency and commitment to viewing an experience. The production values continue to rise with different cameras being used for 360° filming which was really showcased in pieces like The Journey and The Real Thing. Journalistic stories really draw me in and using this medium to bring news stories/issues to audience in different and thought provoking ways is very exciting. The ‘social’ elements of bringing avatars into films and watching alongside others is fascinating.
It is encouraging seeing that media outlets like Channel 4 and ARTE were behind some of the pieces joining the likes of The Guardian, BBC and NGOs, charities and other institutes who have so far funded/supported/partnered on many of these works. Also good news for VR was hearing that the Curzon cinema group are keen to continue showcasing VR alongside films, and are interested in documentaries as well as ‘experiences’ and films directly related to their traditional programme. I look forward to more creativity in this space by new and existing players over the next 12 months.