BBC BERLIN BLITZ VR EXPERIENCE WITH JISC LONDON AND VR EDUCATION

I recently had the pleasure of attending the first Immersive technology in Education, Research and Training London meetup, supported by JISC London. Held at Jisc London's office, I was able to experience the fantastic Berlin Blitz 1943 VR experience and hear from guest speakers David Whelan, CEO and Director of 1943 Berlin Blitz and Chris Long from Immersive VR Education. 

Through an engaging talk on the development and process in creating this masterpiece, I discovered how the BBC were able to integrate their archives (a 75-year-old broadcast) and bring them to to life through this Virtual Reality experience that puts the viewers in the footsteps of BBC war reporter, Wynford Vaughan-Thomas.

In an open forum discussion, we explored the new medium with the excellent speakers and chatted about the storytelling aspect and how one could leverage extended reality for learners, researchers, training.

At the end of the event, invited guests from the immersive industries were given an opportunity to discuss their work in the field, and i was incredibly honoured to discuss my work on the first British Virtual Reality Feature Film, The London Detective to the audience. Afterwards, it was truly inspirational to connect with those who interested in my project as well as hear about their work in the immersive industry. 

Through an engaging talk from Suhad Aljundi, who collaboratively creates and furthers the development of augmented reality (AR) resources and online materials that focus on enhancing the learner experience in FE, HE and skills sector with JISC. Through their work in the VR Education sector, they are building a strong infrastructure and providing services in education, design and technology. By providing VR and AR solutions to training and education, they are enabling the empowerment of the sector and the successful development of essential immersive technology to connect and provide collaboration opportunities to our community. It was truly compelling to witness how education could be transformed as well as training through these manufacturing and industrial applications, whereby anyone, anywhere can gain access to critical skills, learning tools and direct education through VR and AR. 

We would go on to hear first hand from Chris Long from Immersive VR Education, an ex-RAF turned teacher, while teaching he studied the impact of technology on education, training and industry. Now working in the VR education, his expert knowledge of industry and education establishments, are propelling immersive education into new realms of opportunities for a variety of sectors. In a showcase of the Engage platform, I experiences a joint Virtual Reality and in person real life event experience, whereby another guest speaker would discuss his work in VR, through VR! It was also quite striking to see how through Face wrapping technology, one could create a semi life like full body avatar to navigate and inhabit this virtual world. 

in experiencing the BBC Berlin Blitz VR experience, we would go back in time and relive the harrowing journey of BBC war reporter, Wynford Vaughan-Thomas. The official synopsis of the experience details how “In September 1943, BBC war correspondent Wynford Vaughan-Thomas boarded a Lancaster bomber with his recording engineer and a microphone” and for the first time, audiences will be able to “join the crew to fly to the heart of Nazi-occupied Europe, as they endure endless flak and a night fighter attack and listen to the original recordings documenting the terrible ordeal – a major night-time bombing raid over Berlin, described by Vaughan-Thomas as “the most beautifully horrible sight I’ve ever seen”.” 

It was fascinating to hear how the Director had shown his experience to former Lancaster pilots, Geoffrey Payne, would say, “it felt like you were in there, I think it’s excellent, I think it’s brilliant”, truly enforcing how experiencing or better yet, reliving an moment in time and space through virtual reality is truly the ultimate empathy machine. To give emotion to education and to generate an emotional response, Whelan looked to archived personal memories for inspiration. The BBC audio recording of a Nightpass bomber to Berlin was the first time a recording survived. 

Told in a first person POV style, the experience was storyboarded in a classical film style sense, and assets were built using original drawings and images from WWII Berlin along with archive images from bombers. The asset list was akin to the source material and they began to also conduct a wireframe creation of the plane. Through the game engine Unity, Berlin was rebuilt with expert accuracy, even with the skyline on fire and audio from the event itself was used. Aerial photographs from 1943 were overlaid and the airplane was computer generated. Together these techniques, created a scintillating, highly emotive and realistic experience, a paragon of the power to preserve the personal experience and more so, the realities of the Berlin Blitz. 

I would like to thank JISC, VR Education, David Whelan and the BBC, for this opportunity to learn about their project and more so, for events such as these. Events such as these inform us and keep us up to date with the emerging technologies of the immersive industry, and also provide a centre for the community to connect, collaborate and exchange ideas. Most importantly, events such as these, inspire and impact the immersive sector to continue to create and contribute to extending reality. I very much look forward to continuing to attend and support their events, initiatives and projects and thank them for the opportunity to discuss my projects with ERA Film Studios at this fantastic event!