Immersive Experience Network Podcast
Hosted by Dr Joanna Bucknall, this podcast connects with creatives, production specialists, and makers in the immersive experience industry. It explores topics like creating large-scale experiences, finding venues, understanding audiences, and navigating the digital immersive landscape. The podcast is funded by Arts Council England and aims to share insights into the challenges and thrills of making immersive work.
Episodes
Mama Bazooka: The Dome, interview with Sarah Dodd - IEN Immersive Summit 2024
Eric Spring in 't Veld, the CEO and creative director of Mama Bazooka, is interviewed by Sarah Dodd (Co-Founder, Escape Room Industry Conference), one of the world's most renowned escape enthusiasts. In this interview, Eric will share his insights on escape room design, the journey of creating The Dome, and much more.Founded in 2013 by Eric Spring in 't Veld (CEO and Creative Director), Mama Bazoo
Dark Park: Unlocking the Secret to Experiences That Leave a Lasting Impression - IEN Summit 2024
Gijs Geers, founder of DarkPark, is a pioneering force in the escape room industry. In an inspiring presentation, he unveils the secret ingredient behind DarkPark's unforgettable experiences, revealing for the first time how an invisible layer leaves a lasting impact on players.This talk was recorded at the Immersive Experience Network Summit in October 2024 and is supported by Arts Council Englan
Entered: Building a High-Tech Narratively Rich Open World Game - IEN Immersive Summit 2024
Take a deep dive with Jeroen van Hasselt (Co-Founder, Entered), into the trials and triumphs of producing a unique, 200-minute-long game experience such as Demise of the Gricers, that pushes the boundaries of conventional escape game design. Explore the intricacies of world-building, next-level player equipment, narrative & system design, player engagement and training your actors to deliver u
Episodic Storytelling: ERIC Panel Discussion IEN Immersive Experience Summit 2024
Join Lukas Rancher (Crime Runners), Dan Wiseman (The Detective Society), Bob & Nikki Kimber (Hysteria Escape Rooms), and Andrew Preble (Escape My Room) as they explore the advantages of episodic storytelling and how each approaches it differently. The panel will discuss why they choose this format, how it fosters player engagement, and the unique challenges it presents from both creative and b
Lemon Difficult, The Key of Dreams: Lessons from running a 24 hour immersive experience - Summit 2024
Join Creative Director Ivan Carić and performer Emily Carding as they share the challenges and lessons from running a 24-hour interactive experience set in the eerie world of horror and weird fiction. Discover how they blended immersive theatre, deconstructed storytelling, puzzles, and hospitality within the atmospheric setting of a 17th-century historic house to create a truly unforgettable exper
Adrian Hon: Trends, Traps & Opportunities in the Immersive Entertainment Sector - IEN Summit 2024
Adrian Hon (Game Designer and Author) is a prolific maker, writer and fan within the Immersive Entertainment space who has spent the past two years attending, assessing and discussing dozens of experiences around the world. He will be sharing key trends that are resonating well with audiences within the sector, common pitfalls and traps that he has identified across immersive strands and area
Jenny McNeill: Food as a tool for immersion - IEN Immersive Experience Summit 2024
Jenny McNeil takes a deep dive into how to use food as a tool for conveying narrative and engaging the imagination. From understanding the key emotions that food and communal eating extract, to discussing how truly immersive food content can sit within larger scale experiences. Finally, we'll cover how food can be monetised within a customer or branded experience.This talk was recorded at the Imme
Glitch Studios: The Theatre Reimagined – Introducing AR to the Stage - IEN Summit 2024
Sami Hamid from Glitch Studios pulls back the curtain and reveals how wearable XR headsets can be implemented into live staged theatre performances, bringing virtual characters and set pieces to life alongside real actors. This talk touches upon the technical implementation of AR, how it works with your AV setup, how real actors can act alongside virtual actors, and how to achieve all this wi
Any Questions? Entrepreneurship & Immersive - IEN Summit 2024
Andy Barnes (Director, Entourage), Mairi Nolan (Puzzle Game Designer), Tom Lionetti-Maguire (Founder of Little Lion Entertainment), Farouk Dean (Co-Founder of NEXUS and Cellar Door) and Mark Sarfo Kantanka (Co-Founder of NEXUS and Cellar Door) in an open Q&A session, for our panelists and the audience to wrestle with the problems associated with developing your creative idea into a sustainable
Horror & Trojan Horses: Hidden lessons from creating a theatrical scare experience - IEN Summit 2024
Join Michael Badelt from INTYA Creative as he explores turning mistakes into a success: How a small immersive scare attraction went from "Okay“ to "Oh Wow!!“Hear about the sometimes surprising learnings made through the iterations and how those were incorporated back into the show to create an experience that was not just entertaining but had a hidden meaning that was engaging audiences even after
Simon Brind, Agency & Alibi: Participant secrets from the larp toolkit - IEN Summit 2024
Simon Brind discusses concepts of Agency and Alibi in the creation of Larp and their connections to creating meaningful experiences for participants. In this talk he explores 'Agency' - the ability of an active participant in a story to make decisions that change the story in meaningful ways (and what that means for dramaturgy), 'Alibi' '- the idea that the participant experience can be desig
Boomtown: Facilitating Collaborative Narrative in Large Scale Immersive Worlds - IEN Summit 2024
In this talk, Megan Clifton (Head of Narrative, Boomtown Fair) will discuss her learnings in her three years holding the storyline, the challenges of managing a truly collaborative fictional world, and how the ground-up model of interactive storytelling continues to find its feet.Boomtown is the largest interactive theatre in the world, aiming to create an accessible, playable space where the audi
SWAMP & Les Enfant Terribles: Immersive Entertainment to Brand Experiences - IEN Summit 2024
Join Ollie Jones (Co-Founder of SWAMP) and James Seager (Creative Director of Les Enfants Terribles) to learn more about their journey from entertainment providers to established brand collaborators as they share how they made a meaningful transition, what they wish they had known in the early days and the benefits, opportunities and challenges of the brand engagement and immersive entertainment w
Fever - Beyond Creativity: How Data Informs a Show's Success - IEN Summit 2024
In this session, Jessie Fu (Senior Manager of Strategy and Partnerships) highlights what Fever have learned about how new technologies are empowering immersive experience creators. Jessi shares topline data on key components and considerations that have driven a show’s successes from conception to execution, and discusses how integrating commercial and technical strategies can reduce risk. Je
Rematch: Rumble in the Jungle, Connecting Communities and Generations - IEN Summit 2024
Les Seddon-Brown (CEO and producer of Rematch) takes us through the makings of this unique show and how they were able to engage a higher-than-average attendance by first time Immersive goers of all ages and members of the global majority and dive into how the show resonated with a broad and diverse cast, crew, audiences and communities alike.Rematch remagine the greatest stories in sport as live
Innovative Digital Access: A Creative Case for Accessibility - IEN Experience Summit 2024
In this session, Laura Wilkinson and Ben Fredericks talk about the development process for incorporating accessibility in their immersive show "Choosing Children" from the outset of the creative process, the lessons learned, and where accessibility in immersive can go from here.Choosing Children was a dramatic and interactive live spectacle for an intimate audience, which aimed to be fully accessi
DaDaFest Panel: Creative accessibility within immersive practice - IEN Immersive Experience Summit 2024
Joe Strickland (Digital Producer, DaDaFest), Laura Wilkinson (Producer, Ben Fredericks [Collaborations]), Thomas Florence (Artistic Director, But Why? Theatre) and Ben Fredericks (Writer and Director, Ben Fredericks [Collaborations]) discuss how the immersive sector can avoid disabling those audiences in the all too familiar ways they have been disabled by other forms of art and entertainment.&nbs
The Other Way Works: “‘A Rainbow for Amala’ - making an interactive book for kids - IEN Summit 2024
Join creators Katie Day, John Sear and Sudha Bhuchar as they unpack how their form-busting book was made, and the new challenges they encountered working with the printed form rather than live events. They’ll shine a light on development process structure, working with collaborators new to immersive, engaging target audiences as co-creators, and keeping to a tight budget. https://arainbowforamala.
Darren Emerson: Touring VR - In Pursuit Of Repetitive Beats - IEN Immersive Experience Summit 2024
Immersive Artist Darren Emerson shares the challenges and experiences of bringing the multi-award-winning VR experience ‘In Pursuit of Repetitive Beats’ to audiences in the UK and Internationally.This talk was recorded at the Immersive Experience Network Summit in October 2024 and is supported by Arts Council England and our industry partners Illusion Design & Construct, Mance Communications,
Brainstorms: A Great Gig In The Sky - Navigating music, art, science and commercial realities to create viable immersive experiences at scale".
Led by Richard (Technical and Artistic Director) and Erica Warp (Director of Neuroscience for Brainstorms), this talk investigates music, art, science and commercial realities to create viable immersive experiences at scale. Brainstorms is an immersive experience exploring the brain’s response to music and featuring the work of Pink Floyd and Imogen Heap, debuted at Frameless in London over 4 week
Shared Reality and Live Performance // CULTVR LAB
CULTVR Lab has emerged as Europe’s first immersive cross-disciplinary space, focusing on digital arts, XR live performance, and fulldome cinema with Matt Wright (Artistic Director) and Janire Najera (Managing Director) at the helm.This session explores the complexities of producing and touring Shared Reality content that blends virtual and physical environments, through learnings from the show "Ar
Tassos Stevens and Matthew Hawn: Romancing the Book, the story of "Evergreen"
Join Coney's Tassos Stevens (director) and Matthew Hawn (commissioner), as they discuss "Evergreen," a sprawling three-month adventure inspired by Matthew's wife Molly's love of children's literature and the couple's 20th wedding anniversary.After captivating 40,000 people with "The Golden Key" in Autumn 2023, legendary theatre company Coney embarked on a unique challenge: crafting an intimate exp
Bridge Command : How we built two interactive spaceships in an Vauxhall railway arch
An in-depth dive with the creative and production teams from Bridge Command (Owen Kingston, Artistic Director and Tom Black, Executive Director), Illusion (Dan Hughes, Director), Entourage (Andy Barnes, Director) and Clockwork Dog (Sam Clear, Head of Production) who created Bridge Command, a unique and pioneering interactive experience that allows players to be the bridge crew of their own starshi
Data & Diagramming: Two Tools for Meaningful Design - Sophie Larsmon
The video of talk can be found on our YouTube channel - https://youtu.be/p2pUSzzAqWcSophie Larsmon, a creative producer and director of live immersive experiences, presents data and diagramming tools to help create and structure immersive experiences.Talking about her previous work, particularly her collaborations with immersive experience production company Any One Thing, Sophie shares some insig
Creating Peaky Blinders: The Rise - Tom Maller & Rebecca Brower
View the video of this session at https://youtu.be/Hv0fV7NGTlwExplore the creative process behind “Peaky Blinders: The Rise” with Rebecca Brower (Production Design and Costume Design) and Tom Maller (Creative Director and Director). They reveal how they turned the series into an immersive theatre hit, focussing on richly detailed set and costume design, combined with an engaging yet accessible nar
Accessibility in Immersive Experiences
Kat Gill (Access Producer), Jane Ensell (Audio Describer) and Colin Nightingale (Associate Creative Producer) discuss accessibility requirements and sensitivities in immersive experiences with Joe Bucknall (Immersive and Interactive Scholar).Their discussion explores their reflections on the successes and challenges of accessible productions they have been involved with, as well as the importance
How can we make immersive work more sustainable?
Paddy Dillon introduces the Theatre Green Book as a model for making live arts and entertainment more sustainable, and offers a use case for how its advice can be applied to Live Immersive Experiences. From design elements to production processes, and covering performer riders and marketing as well, this deep dive into sustainable practice offers an argument for how immersive work in the UK can fe
Making Immersive: Systems of Care
This week we explore how systems of care for performers, backstage workers and audiences can be integrated into both the rehearsal process and live aspects of immersive experiences. We discuss the challenges and developments in creating cultures of care as well as the methodologies and mechanics used to keep everyone involved safe both in the making and delivery of live work.. Our Guests Dan
Making Immersive: Participatory Practice
Joe is joined by Adipat Virdi to explore participatory practice in immersive contexts; we follow Adipat’s journey from the path from architect to a creator of participatory immersive work, uncovering the powerful impact of connecting with audiences to reframe perspectives and more deeply understand the world around us.Our Guest Adipat Virdi engineers the creative potential of XR for commercial imp
Making Immersive: Immersive Technologies
We’re joined by Rob Morgan and Joumana Mourad to discuss the joys and challenges of integrating immersive technology into live contexts - taking a deep dive into the myriad types of available tech ad different scales and exploring how the creative processes involved in creating tech forward immersive experiences inform the relationship between the work and the audience. Our Guests:Rob Morgan
Making Immersive: Marketing your work
We’re joined by Meri Mance and Sarah Morris to uncover the nuts and bolts of marketing immersive experiences, across different scales - exploring how targeting audiences for immersive work differs from traditional cultural experiences, from managing and enhancing audience expectations to your top tricks and tips to getting tickets sold! Our Guests:Meri Mance is the founder of Mance Communicat
Making Immersive: Casting and Rehearsals
Were joined by Carl Dolamore, Oliver Lansley and Megan Stewart for a dynamic discussion which takes us deep into the creative processes and complex methodologies involved in casting and rehearsing for immersive experiences and the key differences in practice between these and traditional theatre making practices.Our Guests:Carl Dolamore is an actor and voice artist, currently studying on the MA Vo
Making Immersive: Commercial Practice
We’re joined by Sheena Patel and Mark Sarfo-Kantanka to discuss the nuts and bolts of scaling into commercial work - from managing budgets and finances to developing pitches, finding investors, exploring the international market and Obtaining IP. Our Guests:Sheena Patel is an Experience Designer and Creative Producer with over a decade's experience across experiential campaigns and immer
Making Immersive: Seeking Funding
We’re joined by Polly Barker, Marie Klimis and Natasha Stanton to explore how organisations and individuals approach seeking funding, to create work in immersive contexts. From applying for public funds, through to the requirements of research bodies and third sector trusts and foundations - we get into the nitty gritty raising funds for immersive experiences.Guests:Polly Barker is Punchdrunk Enri
Making Immersive: Playability and Gaming in Immersive Experiences
We’re joined by Katie Day, Arlo Howard and Chloe Mashiter - exploring how playability and gaming intersects in immersive contexts to offer a deep experience for audiences. We discuss how generating playable mechanics form part of the creative process, the importance of playtesting mechanics before experiences come to life and the common challenges that makers face when introducing audiences to pla
Making Immersive: Working with Venues, Part Two
Summary: In the second part of our working with Venues theme, we explore the processes involved in setting up a space for immersive experiences - from business rates and running costs to grumpy neighbours. In this episode, Dr Joanna Bucknall chats with David Ralf, Tom Black and Joe Ball about programming and developing relationships with venues that host immersive work and the opportunities and ch
Making Immersive: Creating Audience Journeys
A huge feature of immersive experiences is the intense sensory experience and different routes that participants can take through physical spaces - from the complex architecture of shaping narrative and agency to creating worlds with audience experience in mind, making this work is a multifaceted process for creatives and production. In this episode Dr Joanna Bucknall talks with Colin Nightingale
Making Immersive: Working with Venues, Part One
Immersive Experiences often take place in non traditional cultural venues and finding a space that fits can pose a real challenge for makers and producers. In this episode we’re talking to Will Ma and Andy Barnes about all things venues, from finding them to making sure they’re safe and legal to host a project in. Our Guests:Will Ma is a Location Scout and Manager for Secret Cinema, Dis
Making Immersive: Creating Large Scale Work
Making large scale immersive work can be daunting; in this episode we discuss the creative, operational and financial aspects of scaling up live experiences for larger audiences in a variety of venues. We’re talking to industry experts to discover the exciting journey’s they’ve made towards getting a production live as well as what keeps them awake at night as makers and producers. Our
Recommended
No Balls: The Cricket Podcast
Daily Prayer: Common Worship Morning and Evening Prayer
The Tottenham Way
The City Ramble
The Evidence Based Education Podcast
Rethinking Education
Political Ideals
Grow: A podcast from Cambridge
The Bottom Line
John-Luke-A-Palodcast
E-AHPBA - HPB Insights
Against the Stream
