Masterclasses | Immersive Ireland

MASTERCLASS SERIES

Futureproof will be delivered over five open access online masterclasses that run from March to July 2023. These learning events are designed and presented by Immersive Ireland (Linda Curtin) in tandem with the Cork Film Centre and kindly supported by Screen Ireland.

This series will look XR development and the VR Production Process and is designed to help you understand how creative technologies and processes are converging in the creative industries.

MASTERCLASS 5

XR EXPORT - A GUIDE TO DISTRIBUTION & FESTIVALS

When: Thursday 15th June 1230 - 2pm

Where: Zoom - Register here to attend

Who is it for: Entry level and experienced immersive developers from film & TV, theatre, visual art and gaming, festival programmers, museum curators.

What it covers:

Learn about XR festival audiences, the practicalities of physical and virtual showcase of your work, and what festival curators are looking for when selecting a project for award nominations. The masterclass will also explore new dimensions to XR storytelling such as Mixed Reality, Virtual World Building and presenting your work to virtual communities active on popular social VR platforms. We will also cover tips on how to master a presentation of your work as a virtual Avatar speaker – whether it’s at virtual or physical symposiums.

Discover:

– XR festivals and their audiences

– How to get noticed and selected by XR curators

– Ingredients an award-winning XR project

– From physical to virtual showcase – practicalities of showcasing your work

– Mixed Reality – adding a new dimension to storytelling. Requirements for the set design of your showcase

– Virtual World Building – learnings from the community of pioneering builders of the Metaverse

– Bridging the physical and virtual – presenting your work from within the Metaverse, and how to master a presentation as a virtual Avatar speaker

Speaker:

Mária Rakušanová

Immersive Curator

Mária is an award winning Executive Producer and Curator. In 2016 she kickstarted Raindance Immersive which she established as the XR strand of Raindance Film Festival in London. In 2020 she launched the virtual version of the festival in VRChat, connecting artists and game developers with highly engaged social VR communities from all around the world. In 2021 and 2022 she expanded the festival to further social VR platforms such as Engage, AltspaceVR, NEOS VR and Horizon Worlds. Mária has led Business Development, Content Acquisitions and Partnerships for HTC VIVE, Microsoft and Samsung. She drives efforts to create a community of creators who push the boundaries of XR development and strives to help create a path of profitability for the industry.

MASTERCLASS 4

The Dark Art of Developing VR

When: Thursday 25 May 1230 - 2pm

Where: Zoom - Register here to attend

Who is it for: Entry level and experienced immersive developers from film & TV, theatre, visual art and gaming

What it covers:

Get started with VR / immersive world building tools that will help you start creating VR experiences.

The masterclass will explore the different pathways of creating and developing VR from in-headset world building to developing in unity and unreal engine. We will also examine the tech/hardware requirements for different VR development settings.

Discover:

- The landscape of immersive technologies : the opportunities and affordances of immersive tech

- Tools for creation : an overview of the creation tools available to make immersive technology

- Games engines : Unity and Unreal

- Web VR - A frame, Three.js, Babylon.js

- 360 video : Games Engine or Video editor?

- In headset world making : Horizon worlds, Rec Room and more

- Prototyping tools : Tiltbrush, Gravity Sketch

- Mocap tools : high end to low end

- Networked worlds

- Different skillsets needed in the making of immersive content

- Powerful prototyping processes for immersive content making

- Accessible interaction design tools and practice

Speaker:

Clarice Hilton

Immersive Developer

Clarice Hilton is a creative technologist and PhD candidate at Goldsmiths University. In her PhD she is developing design processes and tools for immersive experience design that centre disability. Neurodivergent herself, Clarice has been collaborating with other disabled creators in this process to navigate and disrupt the inaccessibility of the technology. Her work centres around novel engaging ways of interacting in immersive technology which centre access. She has been working in immersive technology making since 2015 and has toured work globally at Tribeca Film Festival, IDFA Doclab, Sandbox Immersive Festival, SXSW and Venice Film Festival.

A recent collaboration Figural Bodies (2023) was premiered at SXSW, the piece was part of Clarice's PhD research and the culmination of workshops with disabled dancers exploring how to find joy in movement and self expression, whilst navigating the inaccessibility of technology. The piece exists as a live performance piece streaming MOCAP data of two dancers into the digital world where they seek to connect. There is also a VR version with recordings of the MOCAP data alongside autoethnographic words from the dancers.

MASTERCLASS 3

Spatial Sound Production

When: Thursday 4 May 1230 - 2pm

Where: Zoom - Register here to attend

Who is it for: Entry level and experienced sound designers from film & TV, theatre and gaming

What it covers:

The need for realistic, immersive sound is bigger than ever before. In the real world, we perceive sound “binaurally,” literally meaning with two ears. What real 3D audio is ultimately about is guiding our ears to “localize” a sound emanating from a particular direction and distance via headphones.

This workshop is focused on the art of producing 3D spatial sound. Explore real-world production work-flows for immersive storytelling, combining sound design with spatial mixing techniques. Discover:

- Introduction to Ambisonics
- Basic Principles of the Ambisonics soundfield

- Ambisonics microphones

- Practical techniques for encoding/decoding audio to Ambisonics

- Spatial Audio for film & video games, music, VR & AR

Please bring your headphones to get full benefit of the experiments / experience!

Speaker:

Matteo Milani

Immersive Sound Artist & Educator

Matteo Milani is an award-winning sound designer, sound artist and lecturer at the European Institute of Design. Along with producing and delivering sound libraries under the moniker "Unidentified Sound Object", he also creates experimental music and designs surround sound for multimedia installations and live events. Thanks to his background in various sound disciplines, ranging from television and radio commercials to sound for mobile devices and virtual spaces, he has developed a deep sense of creative storytelling. In addition to his daily audio production and post-production work, which includes the creation of sound libraries, he also composes music and immersive sound for audiovisual events and installations.

MASTERCLASS 2

VR Cinematography

When: Thursday 13 April 1230 - 2pm

Where: Zoom

Who is it for: Entry level and experienced creatives from film, the arts, theatre and gaming

What it covers:

This masterclass is focused on how to create compelling content in immersive 180 and 360 video formats. We aim to provide newcomers to immersive storytelling and media practitioners interested in learning about the basics of VR as it applies to to both non-fiction and fiction content. No experience with cameras or software is needed. This course is designed to give you an overview of the first steps into shooting immersive content

This exciting masterclass will explore VR cinematography and cover the following areas:

- VR camera systems and differences between monoscopic and stereoscopic shooting

- Lenses, sensors, framerates and image capture

- Static shots vs moving shots, methodology and best practices

- Identity of the spectator in VR

- Key differences between 360 video and traditional media and understanding the usage cases of 360 video and how the medium should be utilised efficiently

- Looking into dynamics and designing engaging shots

Speaker:

LEWIS BALL

Immersive Director & VR Cinematographer

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Lewis started his career in traditional filmmaking in the camera department, working on a variety of different types of projects including features, commercials, and documentaries before finding his way into the immersive sector. His background in the camera department has allowed him to (somewhat) seamlessly adapt his skills into 360-degree filmmaking, and when the industry started booming in 2015 he found himself traveling the world making all sorts of different content for clients like National Geographic, Sky and Samsung. His has worked on numerous "VR for good" projects and has made a significant impact by producing creative documentaries that highlight critical issues and raise awareness globally.

Lewis's most recent project is Conquest of the Skies with David Attenborough. This awe-inspiring VR 180 docu-series explores the evolution of flight, offering an unparalleled immersive journey that is both stimulating on the senses but also educates, informs, and enlightens audiences.

Producing & Designing Creative VR

MASTERCLASS 1

When: Thursday 23 March 1230 - 2pm

Where: Zoom

Who is it for: Entry level and experienced creatives from film, the arts, theatre & gaming

What it covers:

This exciting masterclass will explore both producing and directing VR and cover the following areas:

- Directing 360 video
- Working with development teams in immersive production
- Understanding VR environments (3 and 6 Degrees of Freedom)
- Understanding the power of interaction
- Scripting and storyboarding in VR
- The challenges and positive outcomes of working in VR
- Looking to the future of the medium with work that pushes the boundaries in both the virtual and physical space

Speakers:

DARREN EMERSON

DAN TUCKER

Immersive Curator & Executive Producer

Immersive Artist, Director, Writer, Producer & Co-Founder of East City Films

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Darren comes from the film world and has transition his skills into the immersive space. He created his first VR experience in 2015 - Witness 360: 7/7 which exhibited at IDFA Doc Lab and toured festivals internationally. His VR documentary Indefinite (2016) won the inaugural Immersive Commission by Sheffield Doc/Fest and went on to be licensed by the New York Times, in a specially commissioned New York Times Op Ed.

In 2018 Darren was commissioned by Creative XR (Digital Catapult and Arts Council England) to create the room scale documentary Common Ground, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival 2019. It won the awards for Best Immersive Storytelling at Sandbox Immersive Festival, the Grand Prix Innovation at Festival du Nouveau Cinema and Best VR Narrative at the World Press Photo Awards.

In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats (2022) celebrates the Acid House youth culture revolution. This is a multi-sensory VR installation utilising set dressing, ambisonic audio, projections, animation, 360 video, archive, interaction, and haptics. It won the award for Immersive Non Fiction at IDFA Doclab 2022, and will have its US Premiere at SXSW in 2023.

Dan is an award winning digital producer and curator with over 25 years of experience of working with broadcasters, digital agencies, startups and international artists. Passionate about interaction and story, Dan works in the intersection between multiple screen industries, from television documentary to virtual reality.

His experience spans the production of TV projects like Charlie Brooker’s How Videogames changed the World to digital projects like the interactive drama Our World War and the VR documentary Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel for the BBC.

As Curator of Alternate Realities for Sheffield International Documentary festival, Dan created a touring exhibition of digital art and documentary showcasing ground breaking immersive and Interactive works from the Guardian, Greenpeace and the BBC.

More recently Dan has been a Commissioning Exec for BBC Arts & Arts Council England’s New Creatives, Head of Partnerships for York Mediale, Researcher for the BFI and Producer of the CreativeXR project Dazzle 2021.

Register here for Masterclass Updates

Thursday January 26, 2023

PARTNERS

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