Virtual Cinema Lab is a Research Group at ELO Film School, founded in January 2016 by Tanja Bastamow and Synes Elischka, with support from Susanna Helke, Professor of Research at ELO, and Teemu Leinonen who was the Vice Dean for Research back then.
Both Tanja & Synes were researching the content side of Virtual Reality and Virtual Cinema, and decided to start a research group to connect with other people, share knowledge and resources.
VCL is open for anyone who is exploring content creation with emerging media technologies, and related fields such as new ways of screenwriting, collaboration, production, distribution, …
We are interested in new perspectives and open for applications from researchers, artists and professionals alike. We’re based in Helsinki region and our premises are in Aalto University, so you should be either based here or be able to travel to join our events on a regular basis.
You don’t have to be studying or working in Aalto to become a member. However, accessing Aalto’s resources is easier if at least one of your project’s collaborators is from the university.
VCL has three membership types: Supporting, Active and Hyperactive. Read about each type and learn the basics of our organization structure before applying for membership.
Do you have an idea for an event, or a lecture series, conference or a seminar or workshop you want to organize? Apply for active membership!
You will find the link to apply for membership when you read our handbook.
Since a central part of our mission is to include other researchers and artists, we want our organization to be able to grow and change over time as it adapts to the needs of our members. This is why we opted for a decentralized organization structure.
This means that everything about this research group, its website, social media channels, the handbook, events and coordination has been created and is maintained by Active and Hyperactive members.
Together we aim to increase the overall resilience of the research group, empower participation, decrease bottlenecks and avoid unnecessary bureaucracy. In short we want to focus on connecting people and allow our little community to flourish.
Supporting members are part of our secret chat group on Slack, get access to our calendar of members-only events, and get a profile on the members section on our website. They also get to join our annual General Assembly.
Active members get the same privileges as supporting members, but they also get to propose new projects, and get access to our internal Google Drive folder. As an active member you also get the right to use our office at Otaniemi campus. VCL will promote your event/project on our website, instagram, facebook page and through our newsletter.
As a Hyperactive Member you are part of the Management Team of Virtual Cinema Lab Research Group. You get to shape the yearly activities and choose new projects and members for VCL.