This week BoostHBG, a media institute, holds a long series of workshops and session about interactive storytelling for the Oculus Rift.

Special guest is Oscar Raby from Melbourne, Australia, who recently released the immersive documentary “Assent” for the Oculus Rift. The focus will be on exploring both the storytelling concept as well as the technical possibilites, using Unity’s 3D engine.

“The focus is to work on how one can use virtual reality in storytelling to deepen the experience for the audience. The sessions finalise with the participants making a short narrative piece produced in teams for the Oculus Rift platform.” says Annika Gustafson, executive director at BoostHBG

BoostHBG has a history of supporting movies and documentaries, including The Pirate Bay Away From Keyboard from Simon Klose, and Äta Sova Dö. The institute has during the recent year done smaller workshops for the Oculus Rift, but this weeks event shows it’s commitment to the platform, and about enabling creators to meet others and share knowledge.

The workshop – creating a story

Participants of the workshop will be asked to arrive with the seed of a story based on true events. They will be used as starting points and a context where they will find focus onto one particular detail of the story. Most likely this detail will have to do with witnessing, being present, being in someone’s shoes, being somewhere else, moments that concentrate a story through the simulated presence of the user.

With attention to each participant’s background, teams of up to four people will be assembled. Teams will include:

  • A creative coder / programmer, literate in the expressive uses of the Unity technology.
  • A visual / performance / theatre / dance or similar artist that manages and plays with objects and bodies in display.
  • A film / documentary maker / writer / screenwriter, role that understands the scripting and timing of a story.

This team will pick one of the stories from their own collection.

The sessions are for transmedia creators and producers, as well as filmmakers, game designers, creative coders, writers, visual and sound artists, performance and spoken-word artists, as well as scholars and researchers interested in the expressive capacity of virtual reality.

You can find out more here.