The Waiting room vr

The Waiting Room VR
Click here to watch the 360 film on MIT’s Docubase.

When director Victoria Mapplebeck was diagnosed with breast cancer, she decided to create a film and a VR project which would explore each step of her journey from diagnosis to recovery. The experience premiered at the Venice Biennale in 2019 and won IDFA’s Digital Storytelling award. It was also included in Forbes’ Top 50 XR experiences of 2019.

IDFA’s judges said, “The Waiting Room VR was able to address the complexity and simplicity of one of the most dramatic human experiences….It provoked us to breathe and feel, and left us with a sense that we just experienced something new and poignant and unforgettable”.

The Waiting Room VR explores the cultural myths and language of chronic illness, asking us to confront what we can and what we can’t control when our bodies fail us. Tracing Victoria’s personal journey from diagnosis to treatment it weaves documentary audio, medical imagery and conversations recorded with friends and family.

The lynchpin of this VR piece is a 9-min durational 360 take, a reconstruction of Victoria’s last session of radiotherapy, which marked the end of nine months of breast cancer treatment.  This experience is counterbalanced by a CGI journey inside Victoria’s body. Working with 3D artists, Victoria has bought to life the medical imaging she’s collected throughout treatment. Cancer cells, CT scans, mammograms and ultrasounds provide a 3D portrait of her body from the inside, out.

The Waiting Room: VR was produced by East City Films. It was written and directed by Victoria Mapplebeck, produced by Shehani Fernando and Darren Emerson with creative technology by Luca Biada from Fenyce and sound design by John Wakefield and Henrik Oppermann. It is executive produced by Darren Emerson and Catherine Allen.

The Waiting Room: VR was commissioned by the Virtual Realities Immersive Documentaries Encounters project; a collaboration between Watershed, the University of Bristol, UWE Bristol (University of the West of England) and University of Bath, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).