MAKERS OF
TRANSPORTIVE EXPERIENCES

In 2018, For Ellipsis Entertainment Ltd, Connie co-founded, co-created and directed the genre defining show, SOMNAI, which ran for five months combining live performance with a rabbit warren of rich sets, VR, AR, projection, scent, lighting and sound design. The 70 minute AI dream-themed experience was described as "like being in an episode of Black Mirror'' by Timeout. The show was preceded by an extensive pilot integrating VR, Microsoft Hololens Mixed Reality and spatialised sound.

The UK authority on advanced digital technology, Digital Catapult, featured Somnai in their Immersive Arcade, showcasing to the world the most innovative content the United Kingdom has produced through the last two decades.

55E5 conceived, produced and directed the world’s first 5G multi-sensory, audio visual accompaniment to the MA fashion show for Three and Central Saint Martins. Giant 4K projections that spanned the length of the 40 metre brick wall and runway, a spatialised speaker array hung over the 700 people audience, combined with headphone 360 sound, plus haptics under the benches, and the scent of rose for the finalé. Adwoa Aboah strutted down the runway as a high definition, full-size augmented reality version of herself on people’s 5G phones, while she sat on the front row. The event won a Drum and Lovie Award.

In collaboration with Sunshine, 55E5 co-wrote, co-designed and directed an immersive theatre experience in the Arizona desert to launch H&M’s 2019 S/S Studio collection. As an alternative to Paris Fashion Week, 70 global press and influencers were flown to Phoenix, Arizona for the three day experience. The collection was naturally integrated into the explorer's world where guests experienced excitement from the moment they stepped off the plane, following different characters and scenes across multiple locations which led to a magical ending.

Produced by Projects NYC.

In 2017, prior to creating SOMNAI, Connie and the team developed an extensive pilot integrating VR with live performance, Microsoft Hololens Mixed Reality and a purely spatialised sound installation that simulated a church.

They built an 80s teenage bedroom that led to a 400 square metre forest through a wardrobe. The Hololens headsets projected virtual wildlife into the forest as the audience walked through. Creating a room scale mixed reality experience quite ahead of its time.

55E5 produced and directed a mixed reality Magic Leap experience for Rekorderlig, which ran over six weeks at the Underbelly Festival on the Southbank. Visitors stepped through a hidden portal to enter "Rekorder-land", donning Magic Leap headsets to journey to a hyperreal world where "fruits and flavours came to life and the sun hung high in the sky".

55E5 conceived and directed a multi-sensory immersive Call of Duty, 5G gaming experience for Three in the basement of their flagship Oxford Street store. A ‘loft’ apartment with a very convincing fake lift and attendant took media and gamers to floor 5G. Using 3D sound and lighting design, haptics and fans, 55E5 created the sense of police cars whizzing past and helicopters flying overhead, and the rumble of explosions as played Call of Duty in the chair.

55E5 wrote and directed ‘Some Inattention On The Left’, a moving multisensory VR documentary about Elizabeth Printer, who suffered a devastating brain haemorrhage at the age of 46. The experience was commissioned by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapists and was used to lobby the government for more rehab services. MPs sat in a wheelchair with haptics and a gentle breeze to immerse them in her story world and create a sense of presence as she looked directly at them appealing for help. The film was a finalist in The VR Awards 2020 in the Social Impact category.

Since 2020, 55E5 have been advising St James’s Place on how to integrate immersive and emerging technologies into learning and development for use in soft skills training and remote, collaborative working. Embracing VR, AR, AI, social VR, and 360 films, 55E5 embarked on an extensive ‘test and learn’ phase before going into full development and content production. We were finalists at the VR Awards 2022 and the SJP team won a Silver award for Digital Transformation at the 2023 Learning Awards.