A VICTIMLESS CRIME

Transport for Greater Manchester // Bee Network

Two teenage boys stand and sit on a brick wall outside. The boy on the left is sitting on the wall, looking down at his phone, wearing a denim and gray hoodie, gray pants, and white sneakers. The boy on the right is standing, looking at his phone, wearing a gray hoodie, black pants, blue sneakers, and carrying a black backpack. In the background, there is a brick house with white windows, and the ground is concrete with some weeds. The text on the image reads: "A VR180 Short Film by RiVR" at the top and "A Victimless Crime" at the bottom, with the word "CRIME" in large yellow letters.

Commissioned by Transport for Greater Manchester for the Bee Network, A Victimless Crime is an original VR drama written and directed by Jodi Ferguson, confronting one of the most dangerous forms of antisocial behaviour on public transport: objects thrown at moving buses and trams.

Young people are involved in more than two in five reported incidents on Greater Manchester's network, usually with little idea of what happens next. This film shows them. The viewer experiences the story as Noah, a teenager talked into throwing a brick at a passing bus, and stays with him through the fallout: the passengers on board, the lasting impact on staff, and the consequences that catch up with Noah himself.

We took the project from script to headset, developing the story, casting the film and producing it specifically for VR, where a split-second decision can be felt in a way a classroom talk can't match.

A Victimless Crime is now delivered in schools and colleges across Greater Manchester through the TravelSafe Partnership's education programme. Metrolink's operator has credited the film with changing young people's behaviour, and its success paved the way for a second VR commission.