TECH IMMERSIVE
Charlotte Mikkelborg, acclaimed immersive director and Craig Heffernan, EMEA director at Blackmagic Design, reflect on the promise and pitfalls of immersive storytelling BEYOND THE FRAME I mmersive storytelling promises something traditional cinema never could: the ability to place your viewer directly inside a scene, free to look a project created with Neil Corbould’s Oscar-winning special effects team and starring Joanne Froggatt. And more recently, she series directed Adventure (2024-2025), a live-action Apple TV+ Original for the Apple Vision Pro.
around and explore as they wish. It offers amazing creative potential, but with that comes new challenges, from preventing motion sickness to navigating complex workflows and guiding the audience’s attention. The technical learning curve is a steep one for those who are hoping to venture beyond 2D, but the rewards are tantalising. Charlotte Mikkelborg is one of the directors leading the charge in this space. She started out in front of the camera as a BBC correspondent and had a stint making 2D documentaries and features, before pivoting to immersive content. She’s since directed a string of acclaimed projects, from The Journey (2018), a projection and interactive dome experience that won a CINE Golden Eagle Award, to Fly (2019),
Her first encounter with immersive content was back in 2015, long before today’s sleek headsets and polished production tools. “I had a meeting in LA with a producer who mentioned this 360° Cuban dance piece,” she recalls. “I couldn’t quite get my head around it until I tried on the VR headset. After that, oh my God, the experience was truly eye-opening.” The technology was rudimentary – this was the era of Samsung Gear VR and Google Cardboard – but the potential blew her away. “I was absolutely captivated. Why wouldn’t you want to be immersed inside a scene, rather than just looking at it on a rectangular screen?”
ENDLESS ADVENTURES Charlotte on
the set of Apple TV+’s Adventure, an immersive series following athletes taking on awe-inspiring challenges
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