Policing Flint
Recent ITP research residents and ITP alumni Julia Irwin and TK Broderick worked on Policing Flint, a New York Times VR documentary about the police department in Flint, MI.
Check out the project here or on the New York Times VR app.
More info on the piece:
This film is our attempt to draw a complex portrait of a police department under immense strain. It’s a police force that reflects the city. Flint has been hit by major budget cuts and staffing shortages amid the backdrop of a crippling water crisis, and yet the force is still expected to keep the citizens safe in one of the most violent cities in America. In many cases, it is expected to pick up the slack of other civic institutions that have collapsed as they are defunded. For better or for worse, the force has not been in the national spotlight, but they also bear the collective burden of the public’s growing distrust of the police. That burden wears on the officers and the community. We felt that a film in this medium could be a powerful way for an audience to experience policing from an unusual point of view — that of the police themselves. At the same time, we are trying to help you see a more intimate portrayal of Flint, and the community that’s holding the city together.
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After embedding with the police and experiencing firsthand how complicated their job can be, traditional 2D filmmaking didn’t feel immersive enough. The feeling of immediacy that virtual reality creates helped us bring a viewer as close to the police and the city as possible — to understand, to the extent possible, the experience of policing from their point of view.
The piece was directed by Drea Cooper and Zackary Canepari.
Julia Irwin was VR supervisor and co-editor and TK Broderick did sound for the piece.