Private Project

Phantom Touch

Phantom Touch" is a multisensory VR interactive documentary exploring neurodivergence, female identity, and the transformative power of virtual communities. Through the lens of FriendlyGhost, an autistic VRChat player, the project examines how virtual identities help rebuild connections and navigate challenges like autism. By using immersive storytelling, it highlights the potential of virtual spaces for personal growth and identity expression.

  • felicity chen
    Director
  • felicity chen
    Writer
  • Hejunchao Li
    Writer
  • felicity chen
    Producer
  • Hejunchao Li
    Producer
  • Nova Lu
    Producer
  • FriendlyGhost
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Student, Virtual Reality, Interactive Film, 360 Video
  • Runtime:
    10 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    December 1, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    800 GBP
  • Country of Origin:
    United Kingdom
  • Language:
    English
  • Student Project:
    Yes - University College London
Director Biography - felicity chen

Felicity Chen is a Filmmaker, XR Experience Designer, Producer and Audio Designer.
Her works focus on the diversity and nuances of female experiences, exploring the in-between space of virtual and reality, and expanding human experiences through interactive and experiential storytelling.
With a degree in Drama and Films and a Master's in Immersive Factual Storytelling, she combines embodiment and interactivity in games with immersion and intimacy in audio in designing XR
narrative experiences.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

We were clear about our vision: we wanted to tell a story through the voice of a female interviewee, focusing on the potential that virtual worlds and shared imagination offer for redefining our lives and identities by disassociating from our physical bodies and societal structures. We also aimed to challenge the construction of gender in the digital era. At the stage of pre-production, the most difficult issue we came across is to build connections with potential users who have never used VR before, or envisioned the possibility of living another life online.
There's a key question we need to explore:​
​"why can't people live their full potential as themselves?"
After months of researching, exploration, frustration, and countless interviews with strangers on VRchat, including queer communities, filmmakers, and full-body mo-cap dancers in VRchat, I met FriendlyGhost in a newly developed bar in VRchat, telling her story. Feeling the connection that resonates and inspires me, we finally found the story, of a woman having a dual identity online and offline, happy while being insecure with her female identity, finding herself and re-building connections with people through virtual interaction.
I named the project Phantom Touch, as touch is the sensation inherently missing in virtual interactions no matter how immersive the world is, yet many people on social VR, including our interviewee, experience the sensation of phantom Touch, when others touch their avatar, they can actually feel it even though no one touches them in reality. We created a unique experiential scene for the audience to experiment with this "illusion" while standing in between the virtual and reality.

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