Cancelled- Organiser's Mrs gone into labour -VR, Ethics and Empathy

Catherine Allen - VR specialist @_catherineallen (https://twitter.com/_catherineallen)

And

Dan Efergan - Creative Director of Digital at Aardman Animation @efergan (https://twitter.com/efergan)

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Catherine argues that when a person puts on a Virtual Reality headset, they are vulnerable. It’s not only about the senses they loose in the physical space they are in; it’s about the virtual environment they are dropped into. Whereas TV and film involve showing your audience a situation, VR involves them in it. They can feel complicit. If creating a VR experience for a user is more like taking someone somewhere in real life, then the producer must adapt their ethical approach accordingly. In this talk, Catherine will share her own learnings and argue that the media industry needs a new ethical framework for VR.

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Dan: Although VR is being cited as a perfect platform for empathy, establishing emotional connection between an audience and a story, its characters and world, is still a complex murky area… the grammar used unclear, the techniques unexplored and any genuine mastery a long way off. A couple of VR productions in, Aardman Animation will share the stuff that’s worked for them, and a candid look at the stuff that hasn’t.