BAFTA launching VR advisory group

Virtual reality is a new frontier in the entertainment industry, and it's one the British Academy of Film and Television Arts wants to explore. The organization today announced that it is setting up a new Virtual Reality Advisory Group to help it come to grips with the new medium.

The advisory group has three main purposes. It will consider the impact VR could have on the film, TV, and game industries, new opportunities for creators afforded by VR, and how exactly BAFTA should use VR to accomplish its overarching mission "to celebrate, develop and promote the art forms of the moving image to celebrate, develop and promote the art forms of the moving image."

The group will be based in Los Angeles, with AMD corporate vice president for technology and content Roy Taylor serving as chair. It is currently accepting applications for other individuals from the tech and creative sectors to join the group.

"We are hugely excited to be providing a platform for discussion on VR's significance across all the creative industries, BAFTA's role in celebrating excellence in this field, and, crucially, how we can support the next generation of talent to find new ways to work with this medium," said BAFTA's Games Committee chair Nick Button-Brown. "Although based in Los Angeles, the advisory group will discuss, explore and inform BAFTA's global activities in the realms of virtual reality, and with its impact cutting across different industries, will be completely connected to our sector committees for games, film and television."