Virtual Reality Experience: Plastic and the Sea Turtle

This project was completed as part of my Master's project at Massey University Wellington's College of Creative Arts. The project explores empathetic storytelling through virtual reality as a method of environmental communication. The virtual reality experience takes the user on a journey through a coral reef from the perspective of sea turtle to encounter plastic waste and the impact it has on marine species and environments.

The video below is a full playthrough of the experience.

The images above represent key moments in the experience; the begin a clean colourful coral reef - the shadow of the character hints to the user who the are. The second image shows the first plastic waste encounter, followed by the first encounter of an injured marine species - inspired by the 2015 video of the turtle and the plastic straw. The final image represents the dumping of waste on top of the user simulating the end of the experience where statistics on the environmental issue is delivered to the user.

Storyboarding/mapping out my space was an important part of my process - helping me visualise my narrative and space.

The experience was created using Unreal Engine 4. The focus of the project was VR storytelling. The models below I crafted using Maya.