BBC ‘War of Words’ Google Cardboard App Commemorates WW1 Poetry

The BBC has today released a Google Cardboard VR app which commemorates soldiers that fell in the 1st World War by celebrating one of the most famous poems from that era.

Poignant Reminder

Today is Armistice day, commemorating the agreement that was reached between Allied troops and Germany which marked the beginning of the end of the first world war. 2014 marks 100 years since the beginning of the conflict which lead to over 16 Million people losing their lives.

The BBC have been running a series of programmes across their Radio and TV channels this year that look back on the world’s most horrific conflict. Today, in conjunction with arts and media production company BDH, the BBC have released an Android application which is compatible with Google Cardboard.

‘War of Words’ is a VR application that attempts to put you “..uses virtual reality to take you back to 1916, and into a mindset captured by Siegfried Sassoon in his controversial poem ‘The Kiss’”. The application that’s available on Google’s Play store now, is compatible with Google Cardboard, Durovis Dive and other stereoscopic viewers.

The app uses onboard accelerometers to allow you to glance around a stylised, animated recitation of the celebrated poem, using minimalist animated aesthetics to poignant and arresting effect. The ‘performance’ is certainly short but surprisingly effective.

War of Words executive producer Michael Poole says: “Using virtual reality to explore one of the most hard-hitting poems to come out of WW1 really enhances the power of Siegfried Sassoon’s words. We really hope that people, young and old, will find this an illuminating experience to coincide with the BBC’s Remembrance Season.”

It’s an interesting demonstration of VR’s potent capabilities when tasked with bringing emotive subjects such as this to a new audience. I hope it’s a trend that continues to grow.

You can find the application on Google’s Play store right here.