1. Home
  2. Research & innovation
  3. Virtual Reality

Virtual Reality

Thinking about virtual reality...

Virtual Reality, this project of total immersion in an imaginary world, linear or interactive, which has been in the state of successive prototypes for more than 40 years, seemed to start “taking” in creative and industrial terms in 2015-2016. We have seen the appearance of many tools, experimental projects, public support for production, broadcasts in festivals, installations of VR headsets in museums, symposiums ...

For my part, I have always thought that a new technology should be thought outside the frame, that is to say questioned, beyond the objectives given to it by the industrialists, in its anthropological, sociological, philosophical, political dimensions, and not only aesthetic. Thinking of a 360° spherical narrative is in my opinion not at all sufficient to seize the potentialities, and possible risks, of these new tools.

So since 2017, I have been exploring bushwalks, exploratory and playful, to question the issues of Virtual Reality technology. I believe that the “side step” is a real tool for thinking, building critical thinking, so basically freedom, ie democracy. Virtual Reality is already often used in the field of technical engineering. Still, few audiovisual creation projects have been realized in VR. On the other hand, it is conceivable that little by little, with the “metaverse”, VR will become part of our daily lives. We are not there yet, so it is time to question this technology and its future uses, to remain conscious in the world of tomorrow. I believe that for this, putting it into practice is a very good way.

Here you will find a selection of experiments with Virtual Reality that I have conducted since 2017, which I hope will inspire cultural action, audiovisual creation, museography and education. Workshops in libraries and media libraries, notably at the Centre Pompidou, atypical films, cultural actions in cinemas, animation of professional meetings, conferences, animation of workshops at the Fémis, contribution to the colloquium of the Louis Lumière school...

Understanding virtual reality filmmaking

Workshop within the framework of QIFF (Quimper Images & Films Festival).

Use of Virtual Reality tools to animate a workshop for the creation of playful and atypical collective audiovisual works.The QIFF (Quimper Images & Films Festival), a young festival (2nd edition in 2023, produced by l’association Gros (…)
4 February 2023
  4 min
Presentation of the metaverse

Thoughts for consideration.

On October 28, 2021, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced the change of his company’s name to “Meta” as well as his plans for the future, in this one hour and fifteen minute video. It opens up some food for thought.In a philosophical (…)
1 February 2023
  3 min
Creation and Virtual Reality
Creation and Virtual Reality

Critical thinking and creative methods.

Building a critical thinking of the stakes of Virtual Reality (360°) films, through practical application and creativity.This article was originally published in 2020 in « Les cahiers de Louis Lumière n°13 ».Virtual Reality has been (…)
31 January 2023
  16 min
“VR can still enter everyday use”
“VR can still enter everyday use”

Interview of Benoît Labourdette by Pablo Maillé in Usbek & Rica media.

Virtual Reality (VR) is a technology that has not yet been appropriated by the general public. It seems interesting to me to take a step aside, playful, to build our critical mind on VR. The Usbek & Rica media interviewed me on this subject, (…)
24 January 2023
  5 min
Les cahiers de Louis Lumière 13 : “Creation and virtual reality”
Les cahiers de Louis Lumière 13 : “Creation and virtual reality”

Article published in the magazine “Les cahiers de Louis Lumière”, edited by Claire Chatelet.

This thirteenth edition of the Cahier Louis-Lumière invites us to question the complex audiovisual forms induced by the so-called “immersive” technologies - virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality - and the modalities of reception that (…)
4 September 2020
  3 min
“Who's who in America” - Binocular version (5'32s, 2020)
BPI Centre Pompidou: production of a collective film in Virtual Reality

In four hours, form a group, experiment with RV, appropriate a place and the technique, imagine a scenario, and shoot a 360° film, thanks to collective creativity and cooperation..The Bibliothèque Publique d’Information of the Centre Pompidou (…)
6 March 2020
  5 min
Cinema Jacques Brel Garges-lès-Gonesse: VR workshop for children
Cinema Jacques Brel Garges-lès-Gonesse: VR workshop for children

Making VR movies for groups of kids in an hour.As part of the “Almost Screen-Free Week”, the town of Garges-lès-Gonesse offered critical thinking workshops on digital technology to all audiences, especially children.At the suggestion of (…)
26 February 2020
  4 min
The round table
The round table

Collective film (4’03s, 2019).

Musical performance in virtual reality in the heart of the city.
14 September 2019
  3 min
Digital Culture Meeting: round table “VR, digital and education” (audio - french - 1h36')
Digital culture meetings: round table “VR, digital and education”.

Discovery of educational experiences using Virtual Reality, either as a tool or as an object for building critical thinking skills.Round table moderated by Benoît Labourdette, as part of the Digital Culture Meeting 2019, organized by (…)
19 June 2019
  3 min
Colloquium ENS Louis Lumière: forms, experiences and devices: audiovisual production in the face of “immersive” technologies

Dialogue on creation in virtual reality with Benoît Labourdette (filmmaker and producer, BL Prod) and Teddy Aymard (producer, Le bureau des curiosités), with a moment of practice so that the gesture nourishes the thought.International (…)
18 April 2019
  8 min
Le bateau livre chaloupé
Numok Festival: “Let’s create 360°” workshop (libraries of the City of Paris)

Workshops for the production of films in Virtual Reality in three libraries of the City of Paris: Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, Bibliothèque de l’Hôtel de Ville, Bibliothèque Arthur Rimbaud.As part o fNumok, the digital library (…)
20 October 2018
  8 min
La médiathèque d'un autre angle
Biarritz Media Library: workshop for the production of VR films

Filmmaking workshop in Virtual Reality for teenagers at the Biarritz Library. Co-produced by Passeurs d’images - ALCAThe Biarritz media library, open to new technologies under the impetus of Nathalie Bargetzi (head of the image department), (…)
21 July 2018
  8 min
Speech by Benoît Labourdette about the VR experience at La Fémis (audio - 15 minutes - New Images Festival - 2018)
Newimages Festival: “Education and immersive images” (round table)

Focus on a Virtual Reality experiment conducted at the Fémis by Benoît Labourdette. As part of a round table presentation of various experiences around immersion, moderated by Xavier Grizon. Program and participants
4 April 2018
  1 min
Workshop VR - Captation de la projection
Femis: Exploring Virtual Reality 360°

A week of exploration of Virtual Reality by a group of Femis and CNSAD students, leaded by Benoît Labourdette. Experiments, creations, reflections ...A philosophical and critical perspective, through playful explorations, to question the (…)
1 April 2017
  6 min
Photos du chantier
Photos of the construction site

A film by Benoît Labourdette (12’43s, 2017). Text and photographs by Myriam Drosne.

Binocular walk in 360° inside the memory of a project of photographs of a construction site.
31 January 2017
  3 min