VR Reunites A Grieving Mother With The Daughter She Lost

As the title suggests, this video is a very difficult watch as it shows a clearly grieving mother as she is reunited with her deceased daughter, thanks to VR technology. The video below is a ten-minute clip taken from the original documentary.

According to Aju Business Daily (via PC Gamer), the documentary first aired in South Korea on 6 February and shows the grieving mother, Jang Ji-sung, as she is reunited with a virtual representation of her daughter. Nayeon was seven years old when she passed away in 2016 due to a rare and incurable disease.

It can't have been an easy decision for a mother to make but ultimately, Jang decided to appear in the documentary to help "someone who has lost a child like me, or who has lost a brother or a parent."

It took the production team eight months to recreate Nayeon's likeness using VR technology which implemented her voice, body, and face. A child model was used to record the motion capture and was implemented to reproduce the scene at a VR studio.

The reunion itself was set in a park that had a lot of memories for both Jang and her daughter where they celebrate Nayeon's birthday with a tea party. Family members also look on, clearly affected by the scene unfolding before them.

The reunion took place at a park.

"Maybe it's a real paradise," Jang Ji-sung, the mother of four children, said of the moment she met her deceased daughter, Nayeon. "I met Nayeon, who called me with a smile, for a very short time, but it's a very happy time. I think I've had the dream I've always wanted."

"Three years later, I now think I should love her more than miss her and feel sick so that I can be confident when I meet her later," said Jang in her blog. "I hope many people will remember Nayeon after watching the show."

It really is amazing what is possible with VR. But while the experience is already incredibly difficult to watch as the emotionally overwhelmed mother is reunited with her daughter, there's something so utterly heartbreaking when the documentary cuts to Jang against a green screen, holding nothing but air. Seriously, who's chopping onions around here?

Topics: vr technology