After ‘Rock, Paper, Scissors,’ BFI Network Sends Beacon for More Narrative VR Projects: ‘There’s a Real Appetite’

As director Alex Ruhls Rock, Paper, Scissors continues an international festival tour, the projects funder has sent out a message to other immersive titles considering public support: BFI Network is open for business.

We are open for all applications, and accepting narrative fiction VR projects, says BFI Network talent exec Alexzandra Jackson. I had such a good experience working with Alex [Ruhl] on Rock, Paper, Scissor that I would certainly love the opportunity to work on more.

The new and emerging talent arm of the BFI, BFI Network looks to invest in filmmakers outside of London and Southeast England, keeping scouts in a number of English regions and satellite offices in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Since 2018, the development org has held an annual call for projects, offering up to 25,000 ($31,500) for short narrative fiction development titles.

Were looking for talent who have been under-represented or denied opportunities in the past, says Jackson, who has helped fund more than 40 shorts in the past five years through her Midlands-based branch. Were seeing how to remove barriers for people to enter the film industry, [because] hopefully more production could happen outside of London.

If film was once the (lone) operative word, in 2020 BFI Network took a chance on a Leicester-based, new-media creative running pop-up VR Cinema.

Alexs VR Cinema would consistently sell out, Jackson recalls. She would have two, three rounds of audiences coming in to watch the same experiences. She was so fascinating and engaging and enthusiastic about immersive stories and thats kind of infectious. You start thinking, how can we fund this kind of work?

An interactive family saga in miniature, Rock, Paper, Scissors follows a mother-daughter pair that develop a foolproof way to resolve conflicts through a one-and-done, winner-takes-all match of the titular schoolyard game. Using hand-tracking tech, narrative elements change according to the signs the user plays.

[At first, BFI Network] didnt know the process, as this required a totally different creative workflow than for a feature or for traditional animation, says Ruhl. You need to think within that gaming, iterative mindset. To test early [because] new medias bloody hard to work in. Youre not just a creative director, youre also kind of a CTO of a mini company; you must translate your creative vision into technical jargon.

After premiering at last years Venice Film Festival, Rock, Paper, Scissors was at this weeks NewImages Festival in Paris, and was picked up for distribution by powerhouse label Astrea. While Jackson is on the lookout for her next immersive venture (Wed love to do more; theres a real appetite, she says), Ruhl is developing a follow-up that deals with questions of diversity and inclusion.

The project is centered around my experience as a woman in tech, says Ruhl, who doubles as head of metaverse technologies at PWC UK. Now that weve done what we could do with Rock, Paper, Scissors, [the next project will be] a bit longer, a bit bigger in terms of tech, and will do things on a slightly grander scale. And BFI Network has left the door open to bring the project to them.