Virtual reality screening, with their bulky headsets and obligatory isolation, doesn’t lend itself well to a festival setting. So for Chicago International Film Festival’s VR screening, I worked with Midwest Immersive to create an eye-catching stage for the VR users & passersby.

CIFF has been offering virtual reality as part of the festival since 2018, and Midwest Immersive has been a sponsor for that. As the creative director, I proposed the idea to enhance the screening environment to be more than a bunch of viewers on chairs with headsets on.

The User as Performer

The VR users are in their own world while viewing the film, disconnected from the real world. Meanwhile the VR user is visible to everyone else. This relationship inadvertently assigns the VR user the role of the performer. Using this dynamic, I concepted a 4-person “stage” where each user gets their individual space for viewing and interacting. The walls for this stage are translucent screens, projection-mapped. By placing the projectors on the ground, the users are lit, as if in a “spotlight.” Their shadows are then cast on each wall, making their movements visible from various sides.