Carnegie Mellon University | Virtual Reality Production
Journey Through the Camps
Insight
Journey Through the Camps is a VR experience that takes users through the spaces of the Holocaust, and gives them the chance to see these sites in context, hear survivor testimony, and understand the history beyond what film and books can provide.
Using computer animation recreated from reference materials (photographs, videos, etc), our team produced an experience that brought students into the history much in the same way that students who visit Holocaust sites in Europe do when they tour the camps.
Story Development
We started the story development process by doing research into Holocaust as a non-fictional and historical fiction story genre, which included watching films (the Pianist, Schindler’s List, A Film Unfinished, Son of Saul, etc) and reading survivor accounts from writers like Primo Levi, Elie Wiesel, and memoirs like Rena’s Promise. The research continued on the trip, where the group CWB provided tour guides, research materials and Howard’s experience and testimony to give the trip added educational moments.
We settled on the idea of bringing the user through the significant spaces of the camps, and having them bear witness to survivors’ memories. What resulted was a journey where the user sees and feels what it felt like to travel through the camps.
Our environment and theme breakdown was as follows:
Setting: Train | Themes: Arrival, Confusion
Setting: Shower Room | Themes: Fear, Uncertainty
Setting: Barracks | Themes: Survival, Suffering
Setting: Crematorium | Themes: Processing Loss, Mourning
Train Scene
Shower Room
Crematorium
Challenge
In many examples of educational virtual reality and interactive experiences, the content doesn’t need to use this technology, and might have been more effective in traditional media. The imperative, therefore, for the production team is to create an experience that leverages the strength of a medium and examine content through this strength.
One of the main draws of using VR is the ability to immerse the user, and allow him/her to feel the space viscerally. We assumed going into this project that these environments of the Holocaust would have their own energy and character, and would ground the history with more physicality and understanding than any book or movie could. Our team wanted to bring that same feeling to the users in Pittsburgh, who would learn the history without having the opportunity to visit the camps in person.