Designing Virtual Funerals as a Design Fiction: A Film-Based Exploration of Near-Future Memorial Rituals

Research Background and Issues

• What problems or challenges did the authors identify?

  • During the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual funerals were adopted globally as an emergency solution. However, despite their potential, virtual funerals are increasingly perceived as temporary, traumatic, and suboptimal choices.
  • Hybrid funerals (combining physical and remote participation) face significant challenges, such as coordinating diverse cultural backgrounds, managing technological complexities, and ensuring authentic and effective interaction between remote mourners and in-person participants.
  • Funeral practices vary greatly across regions and individuals due to differing needs and cultural contexts. The sensitivity, spontaneity, and privacy of funerals make design innovation and experimentation particularly difficult.

• Why is this issue important?

  • Funerals are vital spiritual and cultural practices that significantly impact the psychological and emotional well-being of mourners.
  • The ongoing virtualization and technological advancements offer new possibilities for funerals, such as enabling broader remote participation and recording ceremonies for future access. However, the long-term value of these innovations remains unexplored.

• Research Motivation and Related Work

  • Inspired by the experiences of virtual funerals during the COVID-19 pandemic, the authors aim to explore the future forms of virtual funerals and memorial ceremonies while providing research methods for sensitive and fail-proof design topics.
  • The authors reference extensive research on mourning, memorial design, and design fiction, including theories and practices such as "thanatosensitive design" and "Diegetic Prototypes."

Solutions

• What methods or solutions did the authors propose?

  • By creating a design fiction film titled Sorewa katsute attakara (Interfuit), the authors depict near-future scenarios of virtual funerals and explore how technology can naturally integrate into existing funeral and memorial practices.
  • The virtual funeral system showcased in the film includes:
    1. Real-time remote participation.
    2. A sustainable virtual memorial space for ongoing access.
    3. Ceremony toolkits sent to remote participants to support synchronized ritual experiences.
    4. AI-generated portraits of the deceased.

• What is innovative about this solution?

  • By integrating "design fiction" and "diegetic prototypes," the authors offer a new experimental approach for design research on sensitive and private topics.
  • The solution emphasizes not only the application of virtual technologies but also seamless interaction between physical and virtual environments, aiming to enhance emotional connections between humans and technology through design.
  • The film's features, such as multi-generational participation, long-term accessible memorial spaces, and hybrid ritual designs, provide tangible references for the future of funeral systems.

• What are the implementation steps and key technologies used?

  • Writing a film script set in a near-future virtual funeral context.
  • Creating narrative prototypes in real-world settings, designing and installing displays, sensors, and streaming tools to support virtual ceremonies.
  • Collaborating with experts, including funeral industry professionals, design researchers, and the film production team.
  • Employing Italian-style performance techniques to highlight the authenticity of rituals through natural actor interactions, while incorporating enhanced visual effects during filming and post-production.

Research Outcomes

• What specific outcomes were achieved?

  • The film presents a unified virtual funeral experience, encompassing real-time participation, ceremony recording, long-term access, and remote-physical interaction functionalities.
  • By producing a design fiction film, the authors expanded public imagination regarding virtual ceremonies and funeral design, while introducing new methodologies for design research.

• How does it compare to existing solutions?

  • The hybrid funeral design showcased in the film overcomes the disconnect between remote and physical participation in previous solutions, emphasizing natural integration and interaction between the two.
  • The concept of "virtual spaces" as long-term memorial venues allows participants to access and contribute content at any time, rather than being limited to the day of the funeral.

• What were the experimental or evaluation results?

  • While the designs presented in the film remain fictional, the production process demonstrated collaborative creation of narrative prototypes and showcased the authenticity of design concepts through high-quality scene construction.
  • Current findings are primarily based on internal feedback following the film's completion, with no extensive evaluation involving the public or specific funeral markets.

• Limitations and Future Directions

  • Limitations:
    1. The virtual funeral designs in the film have not been validated in real-world scenarios.
    2. The costs and resources required for film production may hinder other researchers from replicating similar studies.
    3. Data collection and analysis primarily relied on team members' intuition, lacking quantitative and broad evaluations.
  • Future Directions:
    1. Collect further feedback from the public, funeral service providers, and film audiences to translate insights into practical design models.
    2. Explore new application scenarios, such as integrating virtual reality technologies or enhancing memorial design through generative AI.
    3. Promote design fiction-based research and expand its application to other cultural contexts, such as weddings or community memorial events.

Conclusion

Through the creation of a design fiction film and the high-quality presentation of narrative prototypes, this study provides a practical methodology for designing virtual funerals while demonstrating their emotional and cultural potential. During the creative process, the design team successfully showcased the integration of virtual technologies with traditional funeral practices, offering new tools and directions for "thanatosensitive design" research. This approach can be further applied to sensitive and private design topics, providing a platform for exploring connections between culture, technology, and emotions.