Immersive Futures
- joannasamuel5
- Apr 24
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 27
I had the pleasure of going to the Immersive Futures event on Wednesday 22nd April which was organised by Canterbury Christ Church University in partnership with BFI. The afternoon included talks by three fantastic speakers who were:
Samantha Kingston - Virtual Umbrella
Haz Dulull - Beyond The Pixels
Kathryn Webb - AIMICI
They all offered some wonderful insights into their industries. Here is my summary of key takeouts from the afternoon.
Samantha Kingston
First up was Samantha Kingston, who is the CEO of Virtual Umbrella, a specialist marketing agency with a focus on virtual reality. She gave us a fascinating immersive industry guide, with a splash of storytelling. I was interested to hear about the possibilities of deeply impactful storytelling within VR due to the uninterrupted time without distractions that the VR headset allows. Giving the viewer a feeling of actually being within the story means that twenty minutes of VR can potentially produce a similar emotional and psychological effect as a two hour film.
Three VR pieces that Samantha recommended to check out are:
In relation to careers in the VR immersive industry, Samantha broke down the job roles within the industry from producer and director to VR storyteller, production, developer, VR technical wizard and 3D artist. Highlighting how fluid the industry is, starting in one role could very well lead to opportunities in different roles.
A couple of courses that Samantha suggested are worth checking out include Mastered, a government - funded, industry - focused, human-led training initiative for the games, screen and creative industries,
And Unity which offers great support for developers including free courses and tutorials using hands-on projects.
Finally, Samantha spoke about how the VR industry is all about community and networking. Joining immersive communities and showcasing your work is a great first step you can make into the industry.
I thoroughly enjoyed Samatha's talk, it had so many valuable recommendations and advice for students on the VR immersive industry.
Haz Dulull
Next up was HaZ Dulull, CEO of Beyond The Pixels. He has had a tremendous career which includes visual effects and film production and whose directing credits include Netflix features, Disney + shows and Fortnite projects. It was a delight to hear about Haz's career, he really is a great inspiration for students and young creatives. His telling of how he made 'Project Kronos' on his own which then went viral and led to the making of his 2018 film 'The Beyond', really highlighted how determination and passion is crucial. HaZ emphasised how telling stories is the most important thing and with mobile phone cameras being such a good quality these days, there is no excuse not to go out and make what you want.
He spoke about pitching, and how in the creative industries, you will be constantly pitching; either pitching your projects, or yourself. His advice is that if you believe in your project, and show that passion for it, people will believe in you and want to support you.
In a similar way to how Samantha described the industry as fluid, Haz spoke about how his career has been a journey. That he has always been open to different genres and opportunities, because at the end of the day it is all about storytelling.
The biggest take out from HaZ's talk was how he encouraged students to find a way to be subversive. As we are saturated with content, HaZ suggests that you need to find ways to stand out. Playing it safe and staying within convention isn't enough, you need to find ways to go beyond this.
A really motivational talk that captivated the audience. If you ever get the opportunity to hear HaZ talk, I totally recommend that you go.
Kathryn Webb
After a break, the final speaker of the afternoon was Kathryn Webb who is the Managing Director of AIMICI, a company that is on a mission to support creatives in the UK with safe and impactful AI solutions. This means helping companies to adopt AI responsibly, which I think is incredibly important given that AI adoption is growing across the film and television industries. Kathryn shared some statistics that showed that 84% of US filmmakers and 57% of UK TV producers are already adopting or plan to adopt the use of AI within the next two years.
It was encouraging to hear that companies are starting to have guidelines in place on how generative AI can be used. For example, the guidelines of a leading streaming service state that Gen AI is not used to replace or generate new talent performances, whilst another leading media company guidelines state that audiences should never be misled about where and how AI is being applied. The transparency in the use of AI as creatives is very important, and if working with or pitching ideas to any company, it is important to know what their AI policies are.
A key takeout from Kathryn's talk were the most valuable specialist skills that she listed. This was not prompt engineering or learning every AI tool. Instead, it was to have a proficiency in the languages of AI, and an understanding of data and rights.
Kathryn's advice about how to use AI responsibly included only using it when it is viable and valuable, ensuring that you check for risks and to be transparent in your use of it. Some solid advice to end the day on.
It is important to ensure there are guidelines in place as the adoption of AI use continues to grow, and it is reassuring that there are companies such as AIMICI, whose aim is to ensure responsible use across the sector.
To sum up
All the attendees were treated to a great afternoon of industry insights, inspiration and advice. An interesting Q and A with all the guest speakers was followed by a valuable networking opportunity where students could meet with the guest speakers over some pizza. Behind the scenes, I know that my colleague Jane Milton put in an incredible amount of work to organise the event, so I am so happy that it was a great success. I look forward to the next one.
Immersive Event podcast coming soon!
Before the event, Samantha and HaZ very kindly joined me in the podcast studio to chat about how AI is being used in their industries. The episode will be out on Wednesday 13th May. Do look out for it - it's going to be a great episode.
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