“Christopher: A Child Abandoned, Deprived & Imprisoned” from JJIE Multimedia.

In 2015, a class of interns studying immersive journalism at Kennesaw State University used virtual world screen capturing tools and video editing software to produce two machinimas — films made inside video games and virtual worlds. In this machinima, with voiceovers from students and JJIE.org staff reading from actual transcripts, the real-life criminal case against then-14-year-old Christopher Thomas is told in the style of a mini-documentary. The Georgia court sentenced Christopher Thomas to 40 years in prison, where he remains 16 years later. 

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Cover Photograph: Foster care home scene from machinima “Christopher: A Child Abandoned, Deprived & Imprisoned”