Taking Audiences to Remote Locations: Why Immersive Media Production Matters

This article reflects on immersive media production as a way of taking audiences to remote and inaccessible locations through thoughtful design and storytelling.

In 2020, during the height of the global pandemic, AVimmerse was invited to present at the Leeds Digital Festival on a question that felt increasingly urgent at the time:

How can immersive media take audiences to places they cannot physically access?

The session explored immersive technologies such as 360 film, virtual reality, augmented reality, and telepresence, with a particular focus on how these tools can be used to create meaningful experiences rather than novelty-driven content.

What follows is a reflection on that talk and the ideas that continue to shape AVimmerse’s work across education, heritage, training, and the arts.

What Do We Mean by “Immersive”?

The term immersive is often used loosely, but at its core it refers to technologies and experiences that attempt to simulate, extend, or transform our sense of presence.

Immersive media can include:

• Virtual reality experiences using head mounted displays.

• 360 photography and film.

• Augmented and mixed reality overlays.

• Projection mapping and immersive installations.

• Interactive web-based experiences (WebXR).

• Telepresence and social virtual spaces

Importantly, immersion is not defined solely by hardware. A powerful immersive experience can be created through sound, storytelling, spatial design, or perspective, sometimes without a headset at all.

Immersive Media Beyond Headsets

While virtual reality headsets are often seen as the defining feature of immersive technology, some of the most impactful experiences are created using comparatively simple tools.

360 film, for example, allows audiences to occupy a space rather than observe it from a fixed frame. When combined with thoughtful sound design and storytelling, this can create a strong sense of presence, embodiment, and empathy.

This approach has been used effectively in:

• Health and wellbeing experiences.

• Dementia awareness and empathy projects.

• Heritage and cultural storytelling.

• Education and training simulations.

Immersion, in this sense, is about how an experience is designed rather than how advanced the technology appears.

Embodiment, Empathy, and Presence

One of the most powerful qualities of immersive media is embodiment: the feeling of experiencing a situation from another perspective.

Unlike traditional film or photography, immersive experiences can place the viewer inside a moment, encouraging empathy and emotional connection. This is particularly evident in experiences that explore lived realities, such as health conditions, environmental change, or inaccessible locations.

Even low-cost tools can achieve this effect when the focus is placed on narrative, pacing, and audience experience rather than spectacle.

Telepresence and Remote Experience

During the pandemic, the idea of telepresence became unavoidable. Video calls and online events offered connection, but immersive media pointed toward something deeper: the ability to feel present in another space.

Virtual environments, social VR platforms, and interactive web experiences began to replace physical festivals, exhibitions, and performances. While imperfect, these platforms demonstrated how immersive technologies could expand access to culture, learning, and shared experience.

For people who are unable to travel due to health, mobility, or geography, immersive media offers a way to experience places and stories that might otherwise remain inaccessible.

Practical Immersive Media Production

One aim of the Leeds Digital Festival session was to demystify immersive production and show that creating immersive experiences does not require prohibitively expensive equipment.

Accessible tools include:

• Entry level and mid-range 360 cameras.

• Spatial audio recording devices.

• Desktop editing software such as Premiere Pro and Blender.

• Game engines such as Unity and Unreal for advanced interaction.

With careful planning, creators can produce immersive content that prioritises audience experience, storytelling, and ethical design over technical complexity.

Where Immersive Media Is Heading

Since 2020, immersive technologies have continued to evolve. Real-time game engines are increasingly used in film and virtual production. Volumetric capture and spatial computing are becoming more accessible. Augmented reality is moving closer to everyday use through mobile platforms and wearable devices.

At the same time, questions around ethics, accessibility, wellbeing, and purpose have become more important. Immersive media is most powerful when it is used to deepen understanding, foster empathy, and connect people to places, stories, and experiences that matter.

A Continuing Practice

The ideas explored during the Leeds Digital Festival session remain central to AVimmerse’s approach today. Whether working in education, heritage, health, or creative practice, the focus remains on using immersive technologies thoughtfully and responsibly.

Immersive media is not about replacing the physical world, but about expanding how we experience it, especially when physical access is limited or impossible.

Watch the full Leeds Digital Festival talk below to explore these ideas in more depth.