In My Neighbourhood[VR] is an innovative and immersive animated documentary series that invites Victorian audiences to explore issues affecting their communities through an interactive virtual reality platform created with and for communities across Australia.
Audiences will be asked to enter the virtual neighbourhood and walk the streets, where they will find houses that unfold and unpack to reveal hidden stories within.
Created in collaboration with 30 residents of Melbourne, the stories address a wide range of issues including; family violence, gender inequality, suicide, mental health, immigration experiences, race-based discrimination, isolation, lost connections and separation in COVID times, the menstruation taboo, cycles of grief, masculinity, the power of friendship and chasing dreams.
The stories being developed will reflect the lived experience of our communities, as told by them, reaching new and different demographics through the use of VR.
To maximise the impact of these stories, we will be working with five emerging Melbourne animators to transform the work into a collection of animated documentaries that will be integrated into the virtual reality [VR] environment.
The resulting work will be an eclectic collection of stories that challenge, move and inspire audiences to think about some of the age old issues of our time and potentially mobalise audiences to find community-led solutions and support networks.
IN MY NEIGHBOURHOOD[VR] will engage a broad and diverse audience with the work via their mobile phones, tablets and desktop computers (virtual reality headset or as game interface) as well as across traditional broadcast and community based media platforms.
