Ulster Touring Opera develop AR opera for young people

Ulster Touring Opera, a Future Screens NI Narrative Futures funding recipient, has worked with award winning composer Deirdre McKay and librettist Ruth Mariner to commission an augmented reality opera for young audiences. The pandemic heightened societies awareness of the vital wellbeing role of music for young people, as data from University College London suggests that people who spent 30 minutes or more each day during the pandemic on arts activities have lower reported rates of depression and anxiety and greater life satisfaction.  Introducing opera to young people through the medium of augmented reality is a key step in empowering the next generation to enjoy music in all of its forms, regardless of cultural stereotypes. 

For more information on Ulster Touring Opera and Teeny Tiny Operas follow the link.

Narrative Futures is an open call to the Northern Ireland creative industries challenging them to explore, in a visionary manner, how the changes we have witnessed can be used as the catalyst for genuinely new and original thinking about how creative work could best be designed and delivered in the coming years. 

Liz Cullinane Many Threads explores opportunities in scenography model box filming

Future Screens NI Future Creatives-funded project Many Threads was developed by Northern Irish artist Liz Cullinane filming in scenography model boxes. Liz looked at two threads: developing work created during lockdown on familial sexual abuse, WOE: Walking on Eggshells and Swanzy Opera in a Box. Swanzy drew on Liz's published biography of Irish artist Mary Swanzy with the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The project gave Liz the opportunity to test the idea of creating a filmed piece for a model box. It also allowed her to up-skill with a number of collaborators to develop her practice-based PhD proposal. 

Future Creatives was a funding opportunity to advance PhD and early-career researchers research and development programmes, advance their career ambitions and develop cutting-edge technical solutions in their work. 

Bamstick brings Cuhullin to life with virtual production

Belfast-based film production company Bamstick have brought to life Ulster’s mythological warrior, Cuhullin, using Virtual Production technologies. Developed through Future Screens NI R&D fund and utilising Ulster University’s Virtual Production studio, the project is currently partnering with potential stakeholders and attaching world class talent. Having achieved a high-quality technical and artistic outcomes across every aspect of the project, the proof of concept test footage will be used as a calling card for the next phase of production. 

For more information on Bamstick and the Cuhullin project, visit here. 

Belfast filmmaker develops immersive mixed-reality project Helpless Wonder exploring daily life of autistic person

Belfast-based, award-winning filmmaker Joe McStravick recently completed a Future Screens NI R&D project developing an immersive mixed reality project which allows its user to explore the daily life of an autistic person and/or to explore the daily life of an ASD parent (the neurotypical parent of a child who is autistic). The project was created by Joe McStravick, co-written by Maura Campbell and produced by Purple Finch Productions (Ltd).

Helpless Wonder portrays a particular scenario in a day in the life of an ASD parent and/or of an autistic person from the morning, through to the evening of a typical school day.  

Joe’s son Eoin was diagnosed with autism on May 5th 2017. The project is inspired by his experiences of being a parent to Eoin. Joe and his wife have often felt like they are “learning on the job” as the parents of an autistic child. They have also often wondered what it must be like for Eoin to navigate out neuro-typical world.  

Joe plans to use the final project as a VR training for ASD parents and young autistic people with the intention to generate interest from the education sector and health care trusts.

For more information on the project and others follow the link here.

Joe McStravick is an award-winning film & TV director. Past projects have been commissioned and/or broadcast by BBC NI, BFI Network, Northern Ireland Screen, TG4 and RTE 2. His short films have screened at various international film festivals, including BAFTA and Academy Award accredited film festivals. As a producer and screenwriter he has produced, written and co-written a number of the film, TV and promo projects that he has directed. He has also directed/produced a range of commercial films and promos for Random, Cable & Wireless, PwC, HM Treasury, BBC and TCL Mobile. 

Future Screens NI & StoryFutures Academy Present 'VP Futures: Behind The Scenes Of A Virtual Production Accelerator Programme'

StoryFutures Academy presents, in association with Future Screens NI, 'VP Futures: Behind The Scenes Of A Virtual Production Accelerator Programme'. This five-episode series recounts the roller coaster journey of VP Futures, an intensive skills development journey into the world of VP and real time technologies.

StoryFutures Academy (the UK’s National Centre for Immersive Storytelling run by the National Film & Television School and Royal Holloway, University of London) and Future Screens NI present ‘VP Futures: Behind The Scenes Of A Virtual Production Accelerator Programme'. 

This five-episode series showcases the extraordinary work of VP Futures, an exciting co-production training & development programme where eight companies tested new ideas, upskilled their teams and received extensive in-depth mentorship from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Epic Games. The programme was created to build VP skills in the workforce and capacity in UK businesses to take up the new opportunities coming on stream in VP and real time technologies. 

EPISODE 1 - Meet the Teams & Partners

In this episode we learn more about the ambitions and hopes of the eight VP Futures teams and the potential for VP as a storytelling tool.  Meet the companies and partners ready to take on the challenge and explore new creative ideas.

Full episodes below and here.

EPISODE 2 - The Development Zone Part 1

In this episode the companies assess themselves, their projects & ideas to see if they are transposable into a virtual world, and learn about the complexities of Virtual Production. With Virtual Production masterclasses and a remote session about mocap and performance capture by Industrial Light & Magic and Epic Games, the contestants gain a significant amount of expertise.

EPISODE 3 - The Development Zone Part 2

In this episode the companies dig deep into their needs within Virtual Production and put their newly learned knowledge and skills into practice with the expert industry mentorship and on set production support.  With help from mentors from Industrial Light & Magic and Epic Games, the companies jump over hurdles and obstacles and watch their projects come to life. 

EPISODE 4 - Aura Digital: Making “Stone Hearts & Careless People”

This episode demonstrates the process of making “Stone Hearts & Careless People” a short film made by Aura Digital about a supernatural romance that explores love, loneliness and the beautiful tragedy of living. Aura Digital is an immersive content studio based in Belfast who work with a range of technologies from XR, Motion Capture, Realtime Rendering and Virtual Production to make content.

EPISODE 5 - Sunnyside Productions Behind the Scenes of “The Surreal Life”

Sunnyside are one of the two companies selected for the VP Futures Production Zone and given production support and budget to create their VP project. In this episode watch how Sunnyside Productions take the true story of an historic meeting and transform it into the world of the surreal and subconscious with “The Surreal Life”. Although the action has a comic twist, visually the film is striking and uncanny, and explores the iconography of both the Surrealist movement and the power of dreams. Sunnyside Productions is a well-established production company that creates and produces factual, specialist factual and factual entertainment television programmes and formats.