Creating climate change awareness through GALA, an embodied virtual reality experience

The lack of awareness about climate change has led filmmakers to implement traditional methods of storytelling such as documentaries to expose the dangers that will affect humanity and the planet. However, traditional methods for film production are limited when exploring the embodiment of the user into the scene, as the user is restricted to a flat 2D screen. Therefore, New cinematic pipelines using virtual reality (VR) are now available to filmmakers, providing new immersive media for storytelling. VR allows users to be immersed and participate in the story within the three-dimensional space simulating the world and ecological affordances of the user. The production of VR films can be costly due to the complex equipment needed to develop them. This is further hampered by accessibility for both VR creators and VR consumers. This is where accessible, low-cost mobile and wireless VR technologies such as the Oculus Quest can offer EVR filmmakers and consumers the opportunity to develop new workflows and experience innovative new forms of narrative-driven story through virtual production methods within game engines.