Directing VR and Immersive Storytelling

Join WFTV for a focused discussion on directing virtual reality and immersive productions. Hosted by VR creator Dee Harvey, joining the panel will be VR director Mary Matheson, director/immersive creator Charlotte  Mikkelborg, and immersive producer/director Shehani Fernando.

They will be discussing the creative process of directing factual and unscripted VR content, from finding the story to the practical points directors should be aware of when shooting and in production. This event is an opportunity for directors interested to learn more about VR and immersive storytelling technologies and practices, and for those working with directors to gain insight to the different considerations needed by departments for these projects.

Charlotte  Mikkelborg is an award-winning British director/immersive creator known for her work directing gripping character-driven film and immersive experiences. Charlotte's VR short Born into Exile screened in the US Houses of Congress (2016), her 360 film The Journey premiered at SXSW 2018 and was winner of the 61st Cine Golden Eagle Award for Best VR Short. In 2019, Charlotte worked with an Oscar-winning team to create Fly - a multisensory, interactive VR narrative - sponsored by British Airways.  Fly had a sell-out run in London's Saatchi Gallery, was invited to Cannes, Tribeca and SXSW 2020 film festivals, was Winner of Best Documentary Experience at Raindance Film Festival and Winner of a Lumieres Award for Best VR Experience 2020.  Charlotte is currently in post on interactive 360 film Violating Peace and in production on VR series The Lazarus Project and (Hi)Story of a Painting. Charlotte mentors on YouTube Immersive Creator's Lab and University College London’s immersive media course.

Shehani Fernando is an award-winning immersive producer/director, focusing on new forms of storytelling rooted in documentary practice. In 2020, she directed Extraordinary People, Extraordinary Places, a room scale VR piece featuring two speleologists and a cave system in Ireland. In 2019, she produced The Waiting Room VR, an experience about breast cancer directed by Victoria Mappleback, which premiered at Venice and won IDFA’s Digital Storytelling award. Previously she held a number of roles at The Guardian, including acting Head of Audio where she oversaw their podcast output. From 2016-18 she directed a number of acclaimed VR experiences for the Guardian’s in-house VR studio on a range of subjects from asylum to autism. She is also presenter of the StoryFutures Academy Podcast which launched earlier this year.

Mary Matheson, is an award-winning immersive director, creator and executive producer. She is course director of Royal Holloway, University of London’s MA in Immersive Storytelling. She mixes the latest technology (mobile, augmented and virtual reality), along with intimate documentary techniques to bring the audience into the heart of the narrative. She directed Google's ground-breaking 360 documentary series The Female Planet and is currently developing an AR series with NASA for Sky, a VR drama-documentary about illegal underground clubs set up by the Black community to escape the racism of 1980s Britain and an interactive VR experience for the UN Climate Change summit in November in Glasgow.

Dee Harvey is a writer-director specialising in VR and 360 filmmaking. She co-wrote and directed IF, a VR180 film about infertility, that was commissioned by YouTube in 2018. It was shortlisted for the Royal Television Society NI awards 2019. She is writing and directing Heartbeat, an animated VR experience about miscarriage, produced by Chi Thai. She is also working on LOSS VR a verbatim documentary about pregnancy loss, a co-production with Uppercut Creative in Vancouver. In 2020 she was announced as one of Future Screens NI’s first cohort of Future Fellows. Her immersive theatre experience Hostile Environment is supported by Arts Council NI.

Event Schedule:

17:55: Please join the webinar waiting room

18:00-18:45: Panel discussion hosted by Dee Harvey

18:45-19:00: Attendee Q&A opens

19:00: Finish

How will the online event work?

This event will be live streamed via Zoom.us. Viewing details will be sent via your confirmation.

Attending participants will not be visible to others and will be muted throughout the session. After the talk, there will be an opportunity for audience members to ask their questions to the panel by using the Q&A feature.

This event is for existing WFTV members only.

If you are not a member and would like to join, membership costs just £100 + VAT/yr , please click here or email admin@wftv.org.uk

At WFTV we’re really keen to ensure that all our events are accessible for everyone. So if you have any particular access needs, please can you let us know before an event and we will do our best to accommodate you. We would be grateful if you can give us as much notice as possible – please contact admin@wftv.org.uk