The Choice
A VR documentary about the right to choose

Enter the body and mind of a woman considering abortion, and meet real people who made this choice themselves.
In this immersive experience, engage in authentic interactive conversations with real women, who have had an abortion and are sharing their stories for the first time.
Interactive: length 15-45 minutes
6 degrees of freedom, PC & Mobile VR


USING SPACE AS CANVAS FOR IMAGINATION
To achieve the full immersion and emotional connection with the subjects, we use the whole 360 space without cluttering it and without drifting the viewer’s contemplation from what is important. All visual elements, other than interviewees, will have a feeling of being undefined and abstract.
The surrounding space is black, and the avatar you entered - is hardly defined, it is only a shape to give your mind a frame, canvas for you to draw your own images on it.
The women storytellers, before you see their faces and meet them in a conversation - are only glowing silhouettes, representing everyone and no one, representing our whole society - where anyone could have an abortion, and there is no defining feature for them.
When the woman begins her narration, she becomes very real. And then your virtual mind starts drawing immersive and then sweeping Quill illustrations to put you, the viewer in the center of the events, and then gently leads you back into the space and presence of the storyteller.
Visual references: Dispatch, Notes on Blindness, Dear Angelica
STEREOSCOPIC VOLUMETRIC
TECHNOLOGY
We have developed our own process for recording volumetric video for our interviews. It is a custom process of combining stereoscopic 3D cameras with a “depth” camera that records the distance of each pixel. This creates a “volumetric video” which contains not just color, but also shape, allowing you to observe the moving images from angles beyond the original camera lens.
This effect is key to feeling like you are virtually co-present with a real human being, and not just watching a static video playing back on a virtual screen.
What’s important is that our capture system is small enough to allow us to travel light, and even record interviews inside of our subjects’ homes, where they can feel comfortable and safe.
Sample from VR experience
DISTRIBUTION PLAN
The Choice is being developed both for the Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest and other PC & Mobile VR headsets. While the Oculus GO isn’t a 6 DoF headset, we plan support for it as well, it still can benefit from volumetric video through the subtle parallax in the neck modeling.
In the current political climate, our project has very strong international festival and press potential and would be a focal point for events, rallies, conferences related to reproductive rights.
We will licence the documentary as an educational tool for universities and pro-choice organizations to share with the communities they serve - to start the discussion and show an from an empathetic perspective.
Under our current level of funding we are working towards producing individual interviews piece-meal from the full experience to showcase them at smaller events and galleries and grow buzz about the project.
NOTABLE MEDIA COVERAGE
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The Guardian, Laura Hudson - The female game designers fighting back on abortion rights
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Indiescreen, Lisa Svadjian - Virtual Vanguard
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Flare, Lindsay Pinter - This Virtual Reality Flick Shows What It’s Like to Have an Unwanted Pregnancy
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VR Focus, Dave Aubrey - Powerful Virtual Reality Documentary ‘The Choice’ Attempts To Remove Stigma Surrounding Abortion
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VR Scout, Presley West - This VR Film Lets You Experience an Unwanted Pregnancy
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Wysokie Obcasy (Polish main magazine for women), Wiktoria Bieliaszyn - "The Choice" - Załóż okulary VR i zobacz jak to jest być w niechcianej ciąży





RECENT PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
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Games for Change - Virtual conference for social impacted based games and interactive media
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The Talking Back Feminist Media Conference - organized by Shameless Magazine
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VIFF Immersed 2019 - Co-production Market with Kaleidoscope
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GDC 2019 - The Choice VR’: Volumetric Documentary Filmmaking
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VRTO 2019 - The Choice VR’: Volumetric Documentary Filmmaking
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Immersed 2018 - The Choice VR: Using VR & Volumetric Video to explore emotionally charged subject
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iVentures - Stereoscopic Volumetric Capture Technology presentation