Join us for Future Screens NI’s Autumn/Winter 2022 Season Events!

We look forward to seeing you at the forthcoming events as the new season begins!

25th October 2022 - FSNI R&D Projects Final Report Workshop

In-person Event

Ormeau Baths

10:00am - 12 noon

For all outstanding Future Screens NI R&D projects only: Book a 15-minute one-to-one Q&A session with our reviewers in preparation for the deadline of 31st December 2022 for submitting your FSNI R&D final reports.

Contact info-futurescreensni@ulster.ac.uk to book a slot.

 8th November 22 - Future Tuesdays Understanding Virtual Production and its Opportunities

In-person Event

Ulster University, Belfast Campus - LOCATION MOVED TO ORMEAU BATHS.

12 noon – 1:30pm  SOLD OUT! - Waiting List available

Speakers include Professor Declan Keeney, Professor Peter Richardson and Executive Producer StoryFutures Academy Fiona Kilkelly. The panel will discuss the critical factors businesses should consider when making the leap into Virtual Production (VP) and explores the essential knowledge, understanding and skills development needed to do this successfully. If you have an interest in Virtual Production or simply want to understand more about what the opportunities are, then please join us!

For more information and to register via Eventbrite, click on the link.

 9th November 2022 - Belfast XR Festival

In-Person Event

The Black Box

Schools: 9:00am – 12 Noon

General: 12 Noon – 7:30pm

Introducing the first ever Belfast XR Festival! The Belfast XR festival is dedicated to showcasing the best of local and international immersive technology content. Our ethos is to bring virtual and augmented reality content to new audiences. In balancing local and internationally produced content, we have sourced a third of content from Northern Ireland. Buy your tickets here.

Works vary in length and age certificate. 2 of the 10 works are not suitable for under 16’s. Group bookings for universities, FE colleges and schools (16+) are available between 9am and 12noon, please contact deepa@discoverneon.com

 16th November 2022 - Social Media Masterclass

Online Event

12:30pm - 2:00pm.

Do you want to use social media to build your brand/ build your business?

Do you want to learn how to engage new customers in a creative and efficient way?

If yes is the answer, then please join us for a Social Media Masterclass, hosted by Ashleigh Watson of Copper Square marketing consultancy. The event will be a 90 minute online masterclass.

For more information and to register via Eventbrite, click on the link.

 13th December 2022 - Future Screens NI Festive Event

In-person Event

Ormeau Baths

12 Noon - 2:00pm

Join us in celebrating the end of our CICP/AHRC/UKRI funded project with a festive event. Drinks and bites provided, holiday jumpers encouraged, prizes offered to the best festive dressed and fancy dress will not stopped at the door! Santa might event visit. 😊

We hope you will join us and look forward to seeing you at our events.

Any questions feel free to contact us at info-futurescreensni@ulster.ac.uk.

New developments in AI generated models for media and entertainment

Belfast based AI developers Humain have designed new techniques to explore a machine learning approach to automatically create facial rigs for animation. Humain recently completed a Future Screens NI awarded R&D project to focus on developing techniques that have proved disruptive in other industries and applying these learnings to the media and entertainment industry. Titled Project Facsimile the R&D project sought to create algorithms and cloud computing pipelines to establish a high-quality facial database to support training the algorithms. Once the greater project has been completed, the results will have far-reaching impact on how film, animation and video games’ computer-generated characters are created streamlining the process and providing a seemingly infinite variety of life-like physical attributes.

RETìníZE develop a new app teaching kids physics through the story of aeronautical pioneer Lilian Bland.

Belfast-based immersive-tech studio RETìníZE recently completed an app in collaboration with Carol Moore, Gwen Stevenson, & Dr. Margaret Morgan.

Titled Lilian Bland: Learning to Fly, the objective of the project was to create a mobile-based AR application that teaches children elements of physics and forces involved in flying an airplane. The AR experience was inspired by Carol Moore’s Flying (currently in the form of a one-woman play), about Lilian Bland’s aviation achievement in being the first woman to design, build, and fly her own airplane.

Lilian Bland: Learning to Fly is a cross-platform (Apple and Android) mobile-phone app that provides a simple and fun way to learn the forces of flying, using augmented reality. Create your own flying experience with Lilian Bland, the central character of the app. Debunking social and gender norms, Lilian was the first woman in the world to design, build and fly her own airplane, ‘Mayfly’.

A 3D animated Lilian Bland explains how the forces of flying helped her create aviation history in 1910 in County Antrim. This fun learning experience intertwines the key elements of gaming, storytelling, physics, math, and history.

● Make an airplane fly with Lilian Bland

● Learn the forces of flying through gaming

● Build and customize your own airplane, and have it fly in augmented reality

Project Team:

Jack Morrow, Chief Technology Officer

Jamie McRoberts, Senior Product Manager

John Connor, Unity Developer

David Cosgrove, Post Production Lead

Alan Perry, 3D Modeler

Elizabeth Khorrami, Business Development

Nicky Harley, Voice Over Artist (Voice of Lilian Bland)

Carol Moore, Writer

Dr. Margaret Morgan, Ulster University & Gwen Stevenson, Researchers & Engineers

Dr. Declan Keeney, Future Screens Co-Investigator

The project was funded by a R&D award from Future Screens NI.

Future Tuesdays returns with Rebecca Hume, CEO TapSOS! 13th Sep 22, 12Noon

Future Tuesdays is pleased to present Rebecca Hume, CEO of TapSOS Ltd, in-person at Ormeau Baths, Belfast on 13th of September 12 Noon.

Join us for a new season of Future Tuesdays with an in-person event at Ormeau Baths. Featured this months is founder, CEO of Belfast-based TapSOS Ltd Becca Hume will be speaking on recent developments to enhance users’ experience when interacting with 999. The company’s app TapSOS was developed to allow non-verbal contact of emergency services. 

Curious about users’ behaviours and needs, Becca founded a technology company, designing products and services for better inclusion. Her technology company is mostly known for their non-verbal emergency reporting app, TapSOS. 

TapSOS is the only UK company to be accredited by BAPCO, DCMS and is integrated with BT 999 for all four emergency services. 

Becca believes in ‘being the change you’d like to see’ and is passionate about design for those most vulnerable in society and to be a voice for those unheard. 

Becca was awarded the 2020-2021 Women in Innovation award through Innovate UK and during 2020 expanded the innovation for domestic abuse reporting, in response to the impact of COVID-19.  

Please note, this will be an In-Person event at Ormeau Baths. Refreshments will be provided.  

Let us know if you have any access or dietary requirements in order to attend this event. Contact info-futurescreensni@ulster.ac.uk for any queries or requests. 

Register for tickets here. 

VP Futures: A Co-Production & Training Programme, Announces Two Winning Companies

VP Futures is an exciting co-production training & development programme between StoryFutures Academy (The UK’s National Centre for Immersive Storytelling) and Future Screens NI supported by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Epic Games. The innovative partnership was designed to deliver a package of targeted virtual production training, development and production support for the creative screen industries in the UK.

The VP Futures programme was inspired in response to the needs identified in the StoryFutures Academy Virtual Production Skills report. The VP Skills Mandala featured in the report was used to create a bespoke VP Skills Development pipeline for each company, from which a unique training programme was designed to meet the needs of each individual team. Following a hugely competitive selection process, StoryFutures Academy and Future Screens NI were able to support eight companies through a two month development zone, where they tested new ideas, upskilled their teams and received extensive in-depth mentorship from our partners – ILM and Epic Games. They have also had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience within a Virtual Production studio in both London and Belfast. 

It has been an incredible journey so far and StoryFutures Academy and Future Screens NI are delighted to announce the two companies who we have awarded funding into the VP Futures Production Zone and who will now be able to test out new research, ideas and put their new skills into action through the filming of their VP projects.

Image Credit: ‘Stone Hearts and Careless People’, Aura Digital

Aura Digital Studios Ltd

‘Stone Hearts and Careless People’ is a supernatural romantic tragedy set in a world similar to our own. Utilising In-Camera VFX, it follows our protagonist as they discover the beautiful tragedy of living.


“The mentorship we have received from VP Futures has been invaluable and helped us manage the steep learning curve. This opportunity has accelerated our company's understanding of virtual production workflows and methodologies. This has opened entirely new avenues for the company as well as augmenting our pre-existing workflows to be faster and more efficient.” Eva Robinson, Co-Founder, Aura Digital Studios Ltd

Image Credit: ‘The Surreal Life’, ft. Actor Max Lohan.

Sunnyside Productions

‘The Surreal Life’ tells the story of a great, undiscovered surrealist, who shaped some of the 20th century's greatest masterpieces. 

“VP Futures was an incredible opportunity to go from almost zero knowledge about filming for Virtual Production to a really solid grounding in the terminology, techniques and potential of a VP shoot. The mentorship from ILM and Epic Games, as well as the mentorship from the project leaders, was exceptional. Jon Gilbert, Screenwriter, Sunnyside Productions

We were supported at all times and the learning curve was phenomenal; we went from being near-total novices to (not quite) experts in six weeks! As a crash course in VP, it was both intensive and highly rewarding and has left us feeling confident and inspired to continue our journeys into shooting with VP. Andrea Miller, Producer/ Director, Sunnyside Productions

Ben Morris, Creative Director, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) - London

"It's been a totally inspiring and rewarding experience to meet, mentor and be part of such a forward looking programme as VP Futures by StoryFutures Academy and Future Screens NI. Each group brought so much to the table in terms of ideas and enthusiasm to learn about the new and highly dynamic world of Virtual Production. As world leaders in this space we are thrilled to see and be part of training and mentoring the next generation of Virtual Production specialists in the UK." 

The VP Futures programme was broken down into two stages:

Stage 1 ‘The Development Zone’ brought companies through a 6-week training and development programme, where teams got hands on with VP technologies, had 1-2-1 mentorship with experts from Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Epic Games, supported by a series of Masterclasses with: Xavier Martin-Ramirez (Content Creation / FX Supervisor, ILM), James Mohan (Content Creation / VAD, ILM), Adam Grint (Virtual Production Supervision / VAD, ILM) and Ben Morris (Creative Director, ILM - London) and Kinga Kliss (Virtual Production Lab Assistant, Epic Games), Nancy Xu (Virtual Production Producer, Epic Games). The participants were also able to learn more about mocap and performance capture, with remote sessions provided by Alex Counsell (Technical Director of CCIXR) and John Dower (Co-Founder, Mocap Vaults). 

The 8 Development Zone companies included:

  • Sunnyside

  • Aura

  • Engine House

  • Draw & Code

  • Liminal Stage Productions

  • Retinize

  • Soluis

  • TAUNT

Stage 2 ‘The Production Zone’ offers the two winning companies funding and the opportunity to go into production on a VP Shoot, one in London and one in NI. These 2 projects will act as demonstrators for the innovative use of VP in the creative content sector and we will look to identify follow-on developmental training capacity building opportunities. The VP shoots will be taking place during July & August 2022 at National Film & Television School in Beaconsfield & Ulster University Virtual Production Studio in Belfast.

Fiona Kilkelly, Executive Producer, VP Futures, StoryFutures Academy

“VP Futures has shown, for the first time, the wide range of innovative thinking and new R&D emerging from SMEs looking to work in VP and real-time technologies. The programme is building capacity in companies to deliver new R&D requires rapid and intensive skills development and the opportunity to get hands on with technology in a risk free environment. From skills development to production; the success of VP Futures lies in being able to provide comprehensive support throughout this journey.”

Dr. Declan Keeney, Director of the Ulster Screen Academy at Ulster University and CI of Future Screens NI commented:

“This has been an incredibly successful and ground-breaking programme. Working closely with our world class academic and industry partners, we are changing the face of virtual production in the UK and Ireland. Now, eight companies are emerging in the sector with new skills and capabilities in VP. Both companies now funded for production represent an exciting future for the creative industries and we will continue to build on the success of VP Futures going forward to support other companies in their adoption of virtual production pipelines.”

Prof. Peter Richardson, Virtual Production Lead, StoryFutures Academy added:

“This partnership with ILM, Epic and the eight companies is an important step towards addressing the urgent need for the UK film and TV industry to step up to the challenge that VP offers. The vital learnings and insights from the programme will be made available free to the industry over the next few months.”

VP Futures Co-Production and Training Programme Team during week 5 of the programme pictured at the Virtual Productions Studios on Ulster University’s Belfast campus with Ben Morris & Danielle Legovich from ILM and Ben Lumsden, Nancy Xu & Kinga Kliss from Epic Games.

For the latest Virtual Production skills development and training opportunities, please follow @storyfuturesa and @futurescreensni.