A raft of experimental VR projects from the BBC will premiere today at Sheffield Doc/Fest, including a piece exploring the Easter Rising of 1916 through the eyes of one man.

The various pieces of immersive content mark the corporation”s first experiments in terms of real VR, following the release of several 360-videos.

Creative director of digital production, BBC Studios, Will Saunders, explained a little more about the projects and why the corporation is pushing forwards on the much-talked about medium: “Truly interactive VR video is in its infancy and can be expensive to create, but total or partial animation or CGI can be used very effectively and efficiently, while other production techniques may yet emerge or become more accessible over time. All of our true VR experiments seek to address different challenges that will provide invaluable insights for the organisation now and in the future.”

The slate of VR projects includes Easter Rising: Voice of a Rebel, which seeks to immerse the viewer in the memories of one man as he experiences the 1916 insurrection in Ireland. It is designed to be viewed either via a download on a PC (with the appropriate software) or with an Oculus Rift headset.

Also for use with Oculus Rift is We Wait, produced with Aardman. The piece uses real stories of refugees as the basis for an animated virtual experience as the technology promotes eye-contact between the viewer and the characters.

Not all the films are made for Oculus Rift: among the tranche of new VR content is Rome”s Invisible City VR, which is named after the BBC documentary upon which it is based and which needs only a web browser and a low-budget mobile VR headset such as Google Cardboard to view.

The VR content is available to view on BBC Taster.