Project overview

The film industry is rapidly adopting Extended Reality (XR) technologies across production, post-production, and distribution. Each adoption introduces new trust dependencies between producers, platforms, investors, vendors, and performers.

This project investigates how trust signals shape the commercial viability of XR-enabled independent film projects, with a specific focus on Filmshake — a UK-based film financing platform with over 800 producers globally. By mapping XR adoption patterns and the trust relationships they generate, the research will produce actionable frameworks for producers, funders, and platform operators to navigate identity, privacy, and safety challenges in immersive production environments.

Objectives and deliverables

This project directly addresses SPRITE+’s TIPSS challenge by examining how trust is signalled and negotiated within XR-enabled film production and how it informs the commercial viability of film projects.. Using a qualitative case-study methodology, we aim to:

Objective 1: Map XR Adoption in Independent Film Production

Identify the XR technologies being deployed across independent film production — including virtual production, AI-driven post, immersive screening and distribution — and the specific TIPSS challenges each creates between producers, platforms, performers, investors and collaborators.

Deliverable: A concise mapping report (6–8 pages) produced for Filmshake and SPRITE+, cataloguing XR adoption patterns and associated trust dependencies.

Objective 2: Examine and Trace Trust Signals and Their Effect on Commercial Viability of XR Film Projects

Analyse how trust signals — such as verified identity, IP transparency, data privacy practices, and XR production credentials — influence investor confidence, funding decisions and commercial outcomes for independent film projects. This will directly inform Filmshake’s emerging XR content strategy and its pitch platform, helping producers signal credibility to financiers and festival programmers.

Deliverable: A practical report for Filmshake and SPRITE+, including recommendations for platform-level trust design, a producer-facing XR Trust Framework, and an outline for a future larger-scale research collaboration.