Using VR to Drive Conversations on Equality With MLK: Now is the Time

VR’s immersive capabilities offer new ways for developers to inspire audiences using expansive, unique, and stimulating environments unlike anything seen in the physical world. But, when it comes to inspiring audiences with your experiences, your imagination doesn’t need to be limited to the imaginary. Developers like Flight School Studio⁠ are using VR to recontextualize and reimagine real, pivotal moments in history for contemporary audiences—specifically Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s iconic “I Have a Dream Speech.”

60 years later, Flight School Studio’s MLK: Now is the Time⁠ takes users on an immersive journey exploring key themes from Dr. King’s speech and systematic inequalities that persist in our society. Created in partnership with TIME Studios⁠, this project leverages capabilities like hand tracking to deliver a powerful and interactive experience to inspire the next generation of activists. We had the chance to chat with the Director Limbert Fabian to learn more about MLK: Now is the Time and how his team approached key stages of the development process. .

Limbert Fabian: We had a wonderful opportunity to work on this project as an invitation from Time Studios. They wanted to continue the work they started with their initial immersive video, The March 360⁠, which allowed users to virtually step back in history to 1963 and see the March for Jobs and Freedom, where Dr. King gave his iconic "I Have a Dream" speech. We were offered the chance to revisit that day, but with a new perspective and on Meta Quest devices.

LF: We were excited to have the opportunity to use hand tracking in this project. Anything we can do to create a greater sense of presence is welcome. Not having to hold a controller allowed our bodies to feel a little more present, with our arms and hands free to wave, grab, or ball-up into a fist, which feels organic and human. VR promises to allow the viewer to be truly immersed and this was a great step forward.

LF: The developers at Flight School Studio worked hard to create a virtual playground that allowed us to test our ideas about what our hands felt natural doing in VR. At the same time, I wanted an art team that could dial in an appealing style and aesthetic that took advantage of the mobile headset. As a director, I wanted to find the proper balance between creating an original and dynamic space in VR with anchors to reality. We also looked for a writer who could find the right words to both invite us to participate and guide us during the experience.

LF: We wanted this to be a very open and collaborative project. I wanted to find a human response to the words of Dr. King, the demands mentioned in his speech, and how they sound in our world today. After setting up what I called “blueprints for a journey,” we shared that with our partners at TIME and Meta and had a lot of discourse each step of the way. Sometimes what we thought was a great idea did not work in practice. We did testing with audiences when we felt we had a product that allowed us to sustain a good sense of presence. Their reactions to our creative choices, specifically to how we handled the topic of policing, helped shape what we ended up with.

LF: There were a few small challenges we had to deal with. I was concerned with the use of video in the experience. We wanted to have a moment where the audience could passively listen without having to constantly interact with the environment. We also had to find a way for the hand gestures to feel organic while holding objects in virtual space. We found creative solutions to most of our problems.

LF: I am proud of all the work. The skeleton of our initial idea, what it feels like to be in the crowd listening to Dr. King speak, is still present—but I am proud of how we challenged the idea of what the crowd could be, turning them into a cloud of energy surrounding us. This allowed us to use gestures that have an effect in that environment. I also love how natural the fist raise is, and I’m proud that the policing vignette triggers conversation.

I am excited that our take on explaining housing inequity is both educational and unique. These were hard subjects to communicate in VR, but they also offered us a chance to develop the use of VR as a tool to teach and engage in discourse outside of the headset.

LF: Yes, the policing moment hits close to home. It's a vignette that I saw clearly from the start of the project, and I am happy with how it turned out. Emotionally, it was crafted from a place of love, and how anyone in a situation like that can hopefully hold on to their humanity.

LF: Now that the project is out, I hope people can share their experience in the headset or ask to learn more about the material they just engaged with. From the start, we did not want this to be a surrogate experience for activism, but rather a way to motivate you to consider activism if any of these words or moments stayed with you. I love that VR allows us to have experiences that foster a memory.

LF: My advice for teams working in VR is to consider how you are "casting" the audience. They are being invited into a world where the rules are set by you as the creator, but once in the headset, what does the audience do? Consider locomotion in ways that can only be experienced in VR. And sketch often—create playgrounds to test your ideas.

MLK: Now is the Time⁠ is available to download from the Meta Quest Store. The project is debuting at the SXSW⁠ and CPH:Dox⁠ festivals this month.