Our second place winner is “A Virtual Reality,” by Peter Ackerman of Augusta, Maine. Ackerman interviews friends, video game enthusiasts and a psychologist, in a lively documentary exploring gaming and its effect on gamers. A paintball excursion provides a unique backdrop to investigate how gamers separate virtual reality from violence in the real world.
“It’s appealing to people it’s just so wildly different from what they experience and it provides that sense of escape that people don’t even have to consciously realize but they enjoy it just the same.” – Nick Cameron, gamer
“I don’t think very many kids my age consider what types of media they are exposing themselves to. Maybe it’s bad, maybe it isn’t. I made this film for your contest, but I mainly did so to raise eyebrows and make people (mostly my friends) think about what they are subjecting their brains to on a day to day basis.”