Gans’n Dhama Wedhen

'Gans’n Dhama Wedhen' (trnsl. ‘In the Company of the Mother Tree’) is a short 360° fulldome film–composition that invites audiences into the affective essence of Cabilla Cornwall’s ancient Atlantic temperate rainforest. The work combines 360° cinematography, macro textures, a bilingual vocal layer in English and Kernewek (Cornish), and an ambisonic (19.1) spatial soundscape to foreground more-than-human presences (e.g. the “Mother Tree,” lichens, mosses, mycelium, river…) so that listening becomes a primary mode of encounter rather than an adjunct to the image.

The project’s compositional approach is grounded in eco-philosophical and practice-based research. Drawing on Braidotti’s affirmative ethics and Ferrett’s dark sound ecology, the piece cultivates an ethical, relational mode of attention that embraces both enchantment and complexity: affective listening, field recording and ambisonic spatialisation are used to decentre human perspective and to transduce site-specific sonic agencies into a shared immersive experience. Rather than offering “pure sensorial spectacle,” the work engages audiences analytically and somatically, seeking to transform viewers from passive observers into active co-present participants in a collective dome environment. In doing so, it explores how fulldome media can counter hyper-individualised media bubbles by fostering common worlds and environmentally responsible imaginaries.

'Gans’n Dhama Wedhen' was written, directed and filmed by Dr Adam Laity; the original score and spatial audio were composed and produced by Dr Antti Sakari Saario (Falmouth University), with field recording by Saario and Dr D Ferrett (Falmouth University); Ferrett also provided the tree voices and narrative consultancy. The film was produced in partnership with o-region, Black Cat Films, Screen Cornwall, the Thousand Year Trust, Falmouth University/AMATA and Real Immersive. Together, the collaboration demonstrates a research-led model of immersive nature filmmaking and soundscape composition in which spatial sound and bilingual voicework guide attention, deepen ecological understanding and invite audiences to listen with, rather than merely look at, temperate rainforest life.