In 2019, over a period of 8 months, travelling back forth between London and Barcelona, I Creative Directed and developed this epic Virtual Reality project with Igor Studio, Glassworks, Visualise and Client La Caixa Bank, Barcelona.

Scenes from the virtual journey into the heart of classical music, guided by Gustavo Dudamel, were captured in the Gran Teatro Liceu Barcelona and in the hidden secret workshop of the violin maker, David Bague.

Glassworks created all of the CG and VFX for all the other scenes.

Key facts about The Right Choice:

• The Right Choice is an interactive virtual reality experience. The film is a Daydream Impact project developed in collaboration with Google and the creative agency Don’t Panic London, produced by XR production company Visualise with the support of Stoked Films.

• The Right Choice is the first use of interactive VR by the humanitarian sector that gives the viewer an active role in shaping the story of civilians trapped in a war zone. 

• Through polling of users, the ICRC aims to better understand people’s perception of urban warfare and see how VR can influence behavior and build empathy for those affected by war.

• The VR film produced for Google's Daydream platform is downloadable on smartphones from the Google Playstore and the iOS Apple Store.

“Virtual reality transports viewers from the comfort of their homes to the horrors of the battlefield in a visceral and powerful way. This film asks: What would you do if you came under attack?” said Christopher Nicholas, the ICRC’s project lead of The Right Choice. “We wanted to create a short and dramatic experience that was still compelling and realistic. We want people who aren’t familiar with urban conflict to get a sense of what it looks and feels like.

''It can be hard to raise awareness around some situations - especially when they are distant. We are thankful to have partnered with ICRC to leverage VR for a vital mission: giving insight into a complex situation, and helping give a voice to those left behind.” said Sarah Steele VR Program Lead at Google.

“War is back in cities and increasingly it’s civilians who pay the price. The ICRC’s research in 2017 showed that urban conflict accounted for a shocking 70% of all civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria. Armed groups hide under the cover of the city – not the bush. Guerilla warfare takes place in the streets. New technology, including virtual reality, can be a powerful tool to help a large audience understand the human cost of war,” said Jennifer Hauseman, director of communications and information management at the ICRC.

“The only important thing is if you’ve got heroin. It rearranges every priority you have ever had into - this isn’t that important - that’s how you accept homelessness, living in tunnels, it becomes the most important thing.”

Paul

There are over 300 miles of flood channels beneath the city of Las Vegas, Nevada.  Each year the rain water from the surrounding mountains comes crashing through these passageways, diverted away from the city above.

The tunnels are a refuge to thousands of homeless meters below the billion dollar tourist industry of the Las Vegas Strip.

This 360 documentary reveals the stories of the people who live in the darkness, seeking sanctuary in the lawless community under the radar of normal society, and the work of charity workers from Shine A Light Foundation to help these people get out from under.

The film is narrated by Paul, he used to live in the tunnels; a heroin addict, existing to feed his $300 a day habit.  He now runs Shine A Light Charity and helps others.

We go deep underground hearing Paul’s story of addiction, crime, despair, the friendships he made and what happened to aid his escape from the insanity of the underground world.

The Ambition

This film is an attempt to raise awareness around the homeless epidemic in the United States in an intimate and immersive 360 experience.

Viewers will be transported into the claustrophobic and grimy underworld and gripped by compelling and heart wrenching stories.

We will create compelling vignettes of different scenes shot from different areas within the tunnels.  Viewers will be fully immersed in the world; using binaural sound you will hear the hum of the traffic above and the scuttling cockroaches in the darkness around you.

We are currently looking to raise funding to complete the film and work with Shine A Light Charity to help raise funds for their community work.

“These people want to change, they’ve spent a long time not trusting anything or anybody, so our mission with Shine A Light Charity is to do what we can to help, we give away socks, flashlights, batteries, gift cards, clothes, blankets, whatever we can.  I am constantly trying to bring in the community around this.” Paul

The Last Moments is an interactive docudrama VR film that allows the viewer to experience an assisted suicide for themselves and either end their life or carry on living.

Shot at Bristol Museum’s 2016 exhibition: ‘Death: the human experience’ in a replica of the room that they have at the Swiss Clinic at Dignitas Switzerland, the choice the viewer makes directly impacts the outcome of the film and also allows for choices to be polled to help spark debate on this sensitive issue.

Filmed in collaboration with The Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, Punchdrunk Creative set designers, The Swiss Clinic Dignitas, Switzerland, Framestore Production Company London, Visyon production company, Barcelona, Grand Central Sound Studio, London.

“It’s success raises deep and difficult questions about ethics. Let’s hope everyone understands them as well as Furness.”

Rowland Manthorpe, Editor WIRED

Avril’s debut interactive 360 VR film was presented at New York’s Metropolitan Museum at their ‘In Our Time Symposium’: “The most exciting and critical spatial projects of 2017” The Metropolitan Museum, New York

It was also presented at THE WIRED LIVE, London, 2017 and went on to be nominated for ‘Best Director Award’ and ‘Most Immersive Award’ at Underwire and Encounters festival 2017 respectively.

In May 2016 the film was shown to medical specialists, PhD researchers and right to die groups at a Euthanasia conference in Amsterdam.

Insights: Harnessing the power of VR is a great ethical undertaking, especially when curating and handling delicate and sensitive subjects such as euthanasia.

In this interactive VR film the expression of embodied documentary and the emotive power of storytelling in 360 was explored.

“It’s that feeling and empathy that comes into play, they make that human to human connection through emotion.”

Serena Chowdry, Editor Reuters

‘That Dragon Cancer’ was a computer game about a Dad’s emotional journey in loosing his baby to Leukemia.  This was revolutionary to me.  Using different media to amplify a taboo narrative in unexpected channels was compelling.

 My boyfriend at the time had an Oculus Rift Dev Kit 2.  It was an intimidating -boxy looking thing with lots of wires.  I had wondered, how the hell do I make a film for that device?  What story can I tell and how can I direct a film in a 360 environment? What are the technical shenanigans and the creative implications for writing for this futuristic looking device?

I had written a short drama ‘Door to Door Euthanasia’ - a dystopian story set in a future where over-population meant that there was a government policy which enforced couples who were having a baby to sign up a relative or friend to have an assisted suicide - ‘a one in, one out policy’.  I met an Australian MP who told me about the laws in Australia which meant that people were travelling to Darwin to end their lives (as it was only in this state that permitted assisted suicide).  My research into this matter led me to discover an exhibition about Death at Bristol Museum.  It had an exact replica of the Swiss Euthanasia Clinic Dignitas room.  I was compelled to visit.  I sat on a sofa and listened to a directional speaker of a testimonial from an Australia gentleman who had visited Dignitas to end his life.  How can such a profound moment happen in this (Premier Inn looking) dull space?  And how could I bring this resoundingly visceral juxtaposition to an audience in a meaningful way?

I decided to make a 360 interactive film to demystify what the last moments of life looked like if you were to have an assisted suicide. 

My traditional 2D script ‘Door to Door Euthanasia’ had organically morphed into something more profound, by switching it to a different medium, but it also now had more power, as it was based on real life stories and human insights, and now had an interactive element to it. 

Giving ‘agency’ to the viewer in a virtual reality environment (allowing them to decide on how the film ended, whether they carried on living or died) was a huge step forward in my creative career, and my excitement grew around the potential of audience engagement and different levels of immersion.

The Empathy Machine, Story and origins:

The Empathy Machine is a Sci-Fi 360 Noir Virtual Reality Murder Mystery film experience.

Shot at The Roundhouse Theatre, London the cast of two actors play out all seven noir characters.

There is a sense of foul play when the viewer (an amnesiac detective) awakens to find his detective partner dead. Who is responsible for his death? In this immersive 360 whodunnit thriller, the detective (viewer) pieces together clues from the characters who present themselves throughout the narrative, in order that the mystery of the killer be revealed!

“That was very entertaining.” Jan Harlan, Executive Producer, Stanley Kubrick

Inspired by meeting Forensics Lecturer and Psychotherapist Jennifer Rees, along with the discovery of plans to rehabilitate criminal masterminds and Psychopaths with computer games, this short noir 360 drama explores a future use of VR beyond pure cinematic entertainment.

In this stand-alone 8-minute VR experience, David Lynch’s world collides with Lars Von Trier’s Dogville.  The viewer is the central detective character in the drama and the action unfolds around you like an immersive theatre performance.

How are these riddlesome characters connected?  Who put your partner in the morgue?  Will you avenge your partner’s death?  Is there something more ominous looming behind the cinematic experience?

This film is an exploration both in the cinematic production of VR (shooting with 1940s and 50s noir lighting techniques in this modern medium) as well as questioning the nature of VR in a sci-fi dystopian future.

The practicalities of shooting two actors playing all seven parts was a bamboozling technical production puzzle, solved by creating a timed lighting set up akin to those used in live theatre productions.

“That was fun, bringing film noir into VR.”

Beeban Kidron OBE, Director & Producer

Technically it was a first in 360 - shooting each of the character’s gloomy worlds in separate sections, and keeping the lighting set-up constant throughout the shoot for a smooth 360 edit during the compositing post-production stage.

Filmed at and in partnership with The Roundhouse Theatre, London, We Are Familia Films production company, Floss Creatives and Grand Central Sound Studios.

The film was screened at NEXT - Marche Du Film, CANNES Film Festival May 2018 and has been nominated for Official Selection at Aesthetica Festival, November 2018.

“Not only has she pushed the boundaries of the form but has also shown she can work across genres.”

Emily Cussins Creative, ACHTUNG! Advertising Agency, Netherlands

Story and origins:

A phenomenon called autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) has made a huge splash on YouTube.  It uses binaural sounds to trigger a low-grade euphoria in the viewer.  YouTube ASMRtists’ try to stimulate their viewer’s aural senses by using a number of perfectly innocent methods; like rustling paper or whispering softly.

Emma (Youtube name WhispersRed ASMR) is a ‘silver button’ Youtube artist, with over 400,000 subscribers to her popular ASMR channel.

Her subscribers crave the films she makes as the sounds and ‘role play scenarios’ she sets up are distinctive, mesmerising, soothing and relaxing.

Working with YouTube ASMR artist WhispersRed, this film explores the extraordinary power of 360 binaural sound in an immersive environment.

Inspiration was taken from the ASMR YouTube community where 2D videos invite viewers to suspend their belief in hypnotic scenes where YouTube artists role play directly for the viewer and give them personal attention.

The film was an artistic endeavour to explore the interaction between the viewer and the ASMR artist as she delivers a sound healing experience involving a sequence of sound interactions from singing bowls to tuning forks to intimate moments involving other theatrical techniques used in ASMR videos that attract a huge cult following on YouTube.

The property of sound to instantly return the listener to the present moment, and to be grounded within their body was explored.

Insights:

Often in Virtual Reality the body is disconnected from the experience being consumed by the eyes and brain. This film was an artistic exploration into the properties of sound to create a corporeal experience and to keep the viewer within their physical body during the immersive experience.

Partnerships:

YouTube Artist WhispersRed, Visyon360 Barcelona, Spain

This lovely feeling has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. As a child I was sensitive,  introverted and definitely a daydreamer. Over time the tingles became a soothing tool, something dear to me and a form of escapism. From daydreaming in class to falling asleep listening to sounds from downstairs, it was a personal experience and I felt very lucky to have it.

It kept me calm when the whole world around me wasn’t. I did over time try to explain it to others in my life but was often met with blank looks even halfway through the first sentence. It was always very hard to explain and after time I stopped. Later though I found that my younger Brother experiences it. He named it ‘The Golden Feeling’ a perfect description.

 Emma ‘Whispersred’ ASMR Artist