Every June, thousands of creatives descend upon the English city of Sheffield to spend six days watching the best in documentary filmmaking at Sheffield Doc/Fest. Whether it was a story about wine fraud, a journey through war-torn Afghanistan, or meeting between an Israeli mashup artist and New Orleans careworker, the documentaries shown from June 10th through to the 15th provided a first-hand look at the world, alongside new immersive ways of storytelling.
But while everything at Sheffield is factual content, outside of the official selection of cinematic viewing, there was another strand that seemed more science fiction than reality. Called Alternative Realities, the program presented 14 immersive storytelling experiences, embracing technology devices like virtual reality (VR), artificial intelligence (AI) and gaming.
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“We’re showing the work of artists who have chosen to make documentaries that aren’t primarily meant for television or cinema screens,” curator Mark Atkin tells The Creators Project. “They’re looking at other ways available to connect with audiences.”
Take an immersive journey into the summer of 1980 when John Lennon found his Double Fantasy inspiration in John Lennon: The Bermuda Tapes by Michael Epstein and Mark Thompson. Image courtesy of Sheffield|Doc Fest.
The idea of interactive media at Sheffield started in 2009, when Atkin and his team wanted to bring together different areas of the creative industry—traditional film meets web design, for instance—in order to inspire innovation. Previously called Docs and Digital, VR’s recent explosion onto the scene has meant an investment of £1.5 million into related projects at last year’s festival alone. Showing these virtual experiences in a public exhibit also allows for audience trials, as immersive media continues to find its way into the mainstream. (Click here to check out our documentary on the past, present, and future of 3D scanning.)
“We could have easily had 25 experiences but we didn’t have space,” Atkin tells The Creators Project. “Two years ago you needed a big installation to do VR, but now it’s becoming much more available. You can do it using commercially available hardware.”
Changing methods of storytelling are explored in a variety of ways within Alternative Realties. Games, where documentary filmmakers are partnering up with game developers, is one of them. “For years all you could do in game was drive and shoot,” says Atkin. “Now, games have finally grown up. You can have a fascinating immersive experience that invites you to experience the world from somebody else’s eyes.”
Finding ISIS supporters online with Juliana Ruhfus’ game #Hacked: Syria’s Electronic Armies. Image courtesy of Sheffield|Doc Fest.
Using a mobile phone app, #Hacked: Syria’s Electronic Armies offered users the chance to become journalists searching for ISIS affiliates on the Internet. An accurate simulation of what journalists do to investigate, the game was made by Juliana Ruhfus and Al Jazeera.
Although games create a decision-oriented interaction that teaches something, VR puts the user directly in a scenario or place, typically uncharted by the individual. Putting on a headset at Alternative Realities, wearers could step into the shoes of a woman surrounded by protestors at a US sexual health clinic, or be transported into space to see what it’s like to be an astronaut. Three experiences tackled different aspects of the current refugee crisis—Invisible, Home: Aamir, We Wait—while others examined issues of epilepsy and blindness.
Mars 2030 flies you to Mars and beyond with VR headset. Image courtesy of Sheffield/Doc Fest.
Atkin thinks it’s the collaboration between creative sectors that’s helped immersive storytelling develop, telling The Creators Project that, “essentially we’re moving closer and closer to the holodeck.”
“VR is definitely here to stay,” he says, explaining that he doesn’t expect the technology to be a fad like 3D movies or Google Glass. “You’ll still have traditional cinema and documentaries made for cinema or television but you’ll also find there’ll be a very interesting area of convergence.”
A recorded image of Holocaust survivor Pinchas Gutter responds in real time to users’ questions. Image courtesy of Sheffield/Doc Fest.
Early instances of these advancements were shown with AR prototypes, including New Dimensions in Testimony, which allowed audiences to have a virtual conversation with a Holocaust survivor. To create this experience, the USC Shoah Foundation used language processing and voice recognition softwares to enable the recorded image—a hologram, essentially—to respond in real time, granting the piece the Alternative Realities Interactive Award at this year’s festival.
Even though exciting technology may look to change the way stories are told, when it comes to the documentary format, the basic foundations in storytelling remain the same. “It’s not enough to go to a refugee camp and stick up a 3D camera and get an immersive experience,” says Atkin. “As with any medium, your empathy is triggered and your world view is changed through storytelling and characters.”
Sheffield Doc/Fest ran from June 10 through to June 15, 2016, where, along with New Dimensions in Testimony, the virtual reality documentary Notes on Blindness: Into Darkness won this year’s VR Award for its exploration into what it feels like to be without sight. Find out more about the long-running festival here.
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