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Today, children’s charity Theirworld released a new virtual reality film highlighting the education emergency for a generation of children in Nepal ahead of the one-year anniversary of the tragic earthquake that hit in April 2015.

The film “Safe Schools: Nepal” which bought together full-service digital agency Rain and Theirworld is being used as part of the charity’s new #SafeSchools campaign. It captures 360-degree video and audio from Nepal which transports and immerses the viewer into the countries incredible landscape, to experience the earthquake’s continued first hand impact and to hear the challenges children face getting to school, the shocking condition of the temporary schools and the heartbreaking stories of children who have been left out of school.

This release of the film is timed to mark one year from the tragic Nepal earthquake, and as part of the #SafeSchools campaign. “Safe Schools: Nepal” highlights the tragic consequences for children in Nepal, and around the world who are exposed to trafficking, early marriage, child labor because their education is neglected in the aftermath of an emergency. In 2015, humanitarian emergencies and crisis affected the education of more than 80 million children and young people, yet less than 2% of humanitarian aid went to get children back into a safe school. The campaign calls on world leaders attending the first ever World Humanitarian Summit to commit to launch a news fund that ensures children return to school quickly in the aftermath of an emergency.

President of Theirworld, Sarah Brown said: “This extraordinary film transports the viewer to Nepal into the heart of the earthquake aftermath to see and hear from children at just a fingertips reach. You can’t fail to be moved by their resilience and determination to return to school and escape the layers of exploitation.  We must urge world leaders to deliver this promised humanitarian fund for education in emergencies which will be able to act fast in the future to meet this need.”

Rain partnered with Christian Stephen, the award-winning conflict journalist and Co-Founder/ Creative Director of Freelance Society and The Uprising Creative’s virtual reality studio VEHICLEvr to bring the film to life. Designed for viewing on any VR device or headset, the user experience is also seamless on desktop and mobile platforms like YouTube 360. In addition to being shared across Thierworld’s social channels, the video is being distributed by YouTube 360 for desktop, mobile, and Cardboard, and by Littlstar for desktop, mobile, headsets, Cardboard, and AppleTV.

CEO of Rain, Brian Edelman said: “Virtual Reality is a new frontier for storytelling. It's arriving in a big way and beginning to reach the consumer from a variety of touch points. It's not just through a headset which most people can't afford. Knowing that, we wanted to take it a step further. VR is another aid to democratize learning, and we’re leveraging that side of the technology to tell this story and inspire people to take action."

Jeff Nicholas, Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director at The Uprising Creative and VEHICLEvr, said virtual reality was the only medium that could have done this content justice: “VR offers a deeply intimate method of storytelling that creates a unique connection with the viewer.  It’s the perfect medium for this kind of story, touching hearts and minds in a way that is only rivaled by actually visiting Nepal in person.  It’s powerful and creates a lasting impression far beyond what can be achieved in traditional media.”

Freelance Society’s Christian Stephen commented on the creative vision and reason behind creating this film: "We chose this project because we’re passionate about education, and not in the saccharine way that most advocate. We went because we care, we stayed because we wanted to capture, and we returned in order to galvanize those with eyes to see and ears to hear. Our film exists to exhort those changing the nation of Nepal, challenge those who are hesitant, and conjure emotion in those who would care."

Act now to protect the most vulnerable children in the world by signing the #SafeSchool petition at http://aworldatschool.org/safeschools

Credits

Produced in partnership by: 

RAIN
Freelance Society 
VEHICLEvr
for TheirWorld / A World At School

RAIN
Brian Edelman - Executive Producer

FREELANCE SOCIETY PRODUCTIONS
Christian Stephen - Director
Dylan Roberts - Director / Executive Producer 

VEHICLEvr
Jonathan Craven Director / Executive Producer
Jeff Nicholas Director / VR Tech / Executive Producer
Lauren Ciell Producer
Nick Matthews Production Coordinator
Sarah Rountree Production Support
David Adametz Post Supervisor

THEIRWORLD / A WORLD AT SCHOOL

Claire Wilkinson Senior Campaigns & Communicators Manager
Ben Hewitt Director of Campaigns & Communications

EDITOR

Jesse Atlas

TRANSLATOR

Rameshor Bhandari
Eelum Dixit

NEPAL PRODUCTION

Indra Shrestha
Dawa Singye

MUSIC

"Holocene" performed by Bon Iver
Courtesy of Jagjaguwar
Written by Justin Vernon
Published by Chris In The Morning Music LLC
Administered by Kobalt Music Publishing America, Inc.

MUSIC SUPERVISOR

Roxanne Oldham

BINAURAL AUDIO

Stimmung

BROADCASTED NEWS AUDIO CONENT

CBS News

SPECIAL THANKS - NEPAL

Indira Ghale & Her Girls 
Bishwa Dev Khadka
Anju Khadka & Family
The People of Bhaktapur 
The People of Sindhupalchok
Rita Tiwari & Her Students 

SPECIAL THANKS

DJI Technologies 
Radiant Images
CBS Interactive
Dan Huiting 
VEHICLEvr is a subsidiary of The Uprising Creative

Theirworld
Theirworld, a UK charity, believes that all children everywhere deserve the best start in life, and is working for a future where all children can have a safe birth, a great education and the chance to change the world. http://www.theirworld.org/

About Rain
Rain is a full-service digital agency which focuses on insight-driven strategy and ideation, and the highest possible level of execution. We are makers. Full stop. Rain was forged when two best-in-class production shops merged into a single entity. Account Services, Creative and Strategy teams were mixed in, resulting in a best-in-class agency. In this era of outsourced everything, this heritage makes us unique. We think it. We make it. All in. http://rain.agency/

About The Uprising Creative
The Uprising Creative is an award-winning integrated creative + production company; a group of passionate thinkers, makers and doers who are constantly discovering new ways to tell stories and come up with awe-inspiring ideas. We concept, we design, we build, we direct, we produce, we collaborate, we create for brands, agencies + artists, and we're out of our minds. We can do anything. Create and Destroy. http://theuprisingcreative.com  

About VEHICLEvr
VEHICLEvr is The Uprising Creative's VR content studio, developed out of a passion for immersive storytelling and a drive to push the medium forward through new methods of creative development and technical production. Launched in 2015, VEHICLEvr is driving full-speed ahead into the unknown… Learn more at http://vehicle-vr.com.

About Freelance Society
Freelance Society is a multimedia production company created to source, gather, package and deliver stories from the darkest and furthest reaches of the world. Our exploration of the internal and external human condition is overtaken only by our belief that every man, woman and child should have a voice, no matter how hard to reach. http://freelancesociety.co/

Copyright © 2016 Theirworld / A World At School. All Rights Reserved.