One of the best ways for a media company to influence social justice is through representation. The journalism tenet of including “both sides” should actually be ensuring that all sides are represented. For minorities that are present in communities that are predominantly white/male, this representation is especially important.
The world of technology and the metaverse is one such community.
By immersing the viewer into the digital worlds of Lady Pheønix, Yahoo In The Know gives an in-depth experience of the audio and visual components of the rich art installations built in the metaverse.
This video feature utilizes rich visuals from digital-only art exhibits to share the story of an augmented reality artist and creator. It pairs it with a rich audio overlay of the creator herself, Lady Pheønix, sharing the motivations, inspirations and experiences of the artwork and her reasons for curating the pieces.
We wanted to explore how the concepts of identity and inclusion are being explored in the metaverse, where there are no boundaries. We wanted to see, through Lady Pheønix's story, how issues like race and diversity, transcend the real world into the metaverse.
It is important for the story of how identity and social issues transcend into the metaverse. This feature explores identity through Lady Pheønix’s experiences and showcases the artwork she has curated to bring the reader into her identity. Being able to utilize the immersive visualizations and artwork as part of the overall video package showcases the metaverse and AR/VR experiences that a lot of viewers don’t get to experience firsthand.
The challenges with this video were around finding and incorporating the correct b-roll to get the user to understand the metaverse and related concepts that Lady Phoenix speaks about. Another challenge was figuring out what kind of background we should use on Lady Pheønix’s interview shot, which was filmed against a green screen.
The story of Lady Pheønix has amassed nearly 2 million views across all of the In The Know platforms, which shows the reach and exposure that this platform offered. To achieve representation, the participants must be visible and this feature ensured that Lady Pheønix was at the forefront of this story.