This thesis explores the production process of developing a virtual reality experience with an emphasis on digital humanities and the methods of adapting real-world events, narratives, and media coverage into an interactive, location based VR experience. The thesis contextualizes the production of an accompanying media project, which is informed by the history of U.S migration and the media’s impact on the opinion of Americans. Through the observation of production methods, this paper summarizes the process of creating a VR experience that expands the established production pipeline to more fluidly produce immersive interactive content. Using Homebound: The Interactive Immigrant Experience, a collaborative VR project as a prototype for these methods, we were able to integrate and develop a media production pipeline that uses off the shelf hardware in unison with Unreal Engine 4 to produce a prototype VR experience that follows the narrative on a Latin American Immigrant. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The problem of immigration has been around since the dawn of man because humans cannot just stay in one place, especially if that place is not suitable for their lives and their families. It is a reasonable expectation of the human condition to want to feel free and safe because we do not live in a utopian society. There are social injustices, wars, and atrocities that threaten the most basic of human needs and freedoms in many countries across the globe. Homebound, the virtual reality experience, which was developed in Unreal, aims to make sense of this crisis and shed light on the lives affected by this social ill. By using rich environments, virtual production and motion capture, to construct a place that captures the realism of the illegal immigration narrative, this manuscript will show how behavioral and gameplay psychology, when paired with environmental storytelling, can be utilized to craft impactful and empathetic, immersive stories and edutainment experiences for the player. / Includes bibliography. / Thesis (M.F.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Tens of thousands of migrants headed for the Greece-EU border line immediately after the Turkish Government's decision that it would not prevent third-country nationals wishing to cross into Europe in early spring 2020. This study examines the primary motivations of immigrants and their experiences in encountering Turkish and Greek security forces during the period in question. This study also proceeds from the idea that the immigration institution is autonomous. A total of eleven immigrants were interviewed in nine interviews using in-depth and semi-structured interview techniques. In the light of the data provided by the interviewees, it is understood that they are in an environment of insecurity in all aspects of life in Turkey, that they do not have legal status, employment, income and job security, and that immigrants have become even more vulnerable with the recent economic crisis in the country. The mass migration movement towards Europe in 2015, which is still vividly in the memories of immigrants, positively affects their motivation as an example of a successful border crossing. The Turkish Government faces immigration autonomy as it tries to regulate immigration forward; however, a tacit alliance is formed between the two agents. An irreconcilable conflict is experienced between the immigrants and the Greek border guards. Greek troops employ a strategy designed to create violence and shock, and the immigrants adopt survival against this strategy as the primary method.