5 WOMEN 1 STORY

An award winning production, bringing the reality of misogyny to the forefront of conversation.

Everyday misogyny shapes how safe women feel in public, yet the young men responsible rarely see the effect of their behaviour. Through the Home Office's Safer Streets fund, Warwickshire Police and Warwickshire County Council set out to reduce violence against women and girls. Shown to young men and women aged 15 to 22 in schools, colleges and universities across Warwickshire.

5 Women, 1 Story is a series of VR films we produced, directed by Catherine Allen.

The original brief was "a day in the life of a woman": a guide to keeping yourself safe on the streets. We felt it was vital to flip the script. Rather than asking women to change their behaviour, we played a pivotal role in reshaping the concept around the audience who most needed to hear it: young boys.

The viewer sits in on a real conversation between women in their twenties as they describe the misogyny they have faced and its lasting effect on their lives. It's a conversation boys would never normally be privy to. In the headset there is no lecture and no instruction. They are simply in the room, listening.

That is the power of VR: the viewer experiences the conversation rather than being told about it, building the kind of memory and empathy a classroom talk can't.