Reflections from six years of Virtual Umbrella Pt 1: Sammy
Virtual Umbrella was created in 2015 as a way to help advance the virtual reality industry in the UK. We wanted to work with as many developers as possible, showcasing their work, doing marketing for them, and being all round advocates of the technology.
In the last 6 years, we’ve introduced VR to well over 50,000 people, travelled the world and worked on some amazing projects. These are two of my favourite memories.
Touring Unrest VR: A week at Lewes Cinema
Over the years we have had opportunities to tour and demo a variety of content across the UK and globally. Touring Unrest VR was one of our biggest tours that we achieved. I think at the time we talked a lot online about the project but it still stays with me.
What stood out to me the most was the approach to the tour — at the time I had not yet seen a film and a VR piece be shown side by side. I loved that everyone that went to go see it at a cinema had the opportunity to also experience the VR experience too. Two very different experiences. If you are not aware Unrest VR was a companion piece to the award-winning documentary, Unrest. It explored the devastating impacts of M.E and the painful solitary confinement of a bedroom.
Unrest VR left an impact on a lot of people and being the person to put those people into the experience, be there during and of course be the first thing they see when they take the headset of is a big responsibility. I have always believed in providing safe spaces for content like this — one of the places that we toured Unrest VR, was in a little cinema in Lewes. We had a whole separate room for the demos and this allowed space to experience, decompress and talk.
What I gained from this project was my continuous learning of how to engage with people in these environments. Allowing space and time to talk.
This experience also allowed to me have confidence in myself, later in 2019 when I created my first 360 film and knowing that I knew exactly how I should demo it and talk to people.
Hampshire Libraries: Giving back
Before I worked in the immersive space I used to work in a community theatre which had a library attached to it. Like a community centre almost (which is hated being associated with) but I loved the feeling of community it had. The regulars who would pop in for their cup of teas and sandwiches after having a class in the library. The same lady that always asked the theatre if we had bus passes. I felt like when I moved on to the immersive space that one day I would like to give back to that community.
When we had the opportunity to work with Hampshire Libraries I was secretly buzzing. In 2016 we teamed up with Hampshire libraries to provide a free virtual reality taster session throughout the country. Back then we were using the Samsung Gear VR, which at the time felt like a huge step up from lugging our huge VR PC around with us.
With each library that we went too, we were able to give anyone who was interested the opportunity to sit and try out the headsets. What I loved the most about this project was being able to share my passion closely with a community that I felt we had not been able to cater to yet.
Even better was be able to step back into my own community space and share these free session with them. In the following year, the library attached the theatre I worked in after those taster sessions set up a lab, with VR kit, 3D printers, robots and classes that the community could be involved with.
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