HEAD SET
Fire Panda is working with Head Set to create the VR content for their Safety emotion and resilience training (SMART) platform. Each module takes users through challenging sequences designed to explore dangerous and stressful situations.
Journalists Kate Parkinson and Aela Callan have 30 years of experience as foreign corespondents, butalways felt unprepared for the physical, mental, and emotional traumas they faced. Head set was born out of their desire to change the media industry for the better, and develop something which would make a real difference for journalists, trainers, and the public whom they serve.
The first module, ‘Civil Unrest’, released to major news organisations such as Reuters, CNN and ITN to help prepare them for assignments like the US elections and anti-covid protests around the world.
You can find out more by VISITING THEM HERE
Narrative Training VR
CAPTURING MOTION
To give the experiences a visceral and grounded reality Motion Capture was used for the performances of the characters. Head Set cast actors with both vocal and physical performance in mind.
Each module has multiple primary characters, as well as many background characters and time and effort is taken to ensure each in integrated into the story to best reflect the urgency of each situation.
DESIGN
For the look and feel of the experiences it was important for Head Set that the setting capture the visceral urgency of each situation. They felt something hyper-realistic may fall into the uncanny valley and become distracting.
Due to our experience with stylised art direction they asked Fire Panda to develop the visual style for each module.
For the ‘Civil Unrest’ scenes, seen here, it was important to capture the chaotic and unpredictable nature of these situations.
