Shortly before Christmas, a group of Year 9 Media students were given the opportunity to visit the University of Portsmouth’s new state of the art Media suite, the Centre for Creative and Immersive Extended Reality (CCIXR).

We enjoyed a full tour of their state of the art technology, much of which has been used in professional productions across Portsmouth, nationally and internationally including the We Shine festival and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Part of the tour included seeing the motion capture (Mo-cap) studio, which is used to apply real actors’ performances to digital characters. We got a hands on with some of the technology, and even got to try out the virtual cameras used by professionals in the studio.

The highlight was the state of the art virtual reality studio, which allows people and objects to be placed in new settings in real time - allowing the students to take a whistle stop tour of Paris, Florence, and even the moon.

It was a fantastic chance to see the ‘behind the scenes’ of how media products are made, and some of the new cutting-edge technologies being used in new productions. The visit to the University of Portsmouth’s CCIXR offered Year 9 Media students a unique and enriching experience that combines exposure to advanced technology, creative inspiration, practical learning, teamwork, career exploration, and higher education engagement. Each of these benefits contributes to their development as informed and inspired future media professionals.