Storytelling for virtual reality : methods and principles for crafting immersive narratives

In the chapter one, Jessica Brillhart and John Bucher actually talked about a lot of things. In addition to talking about the current development of vr and ar, future trends, etc. its more about how to create an experience in the environment or Active presentation of spatial presentation. In fact, due to the lack of understanding of the industry, it is impossible to judge this kind of high concept.

But after read a few pages, I have some ideas about VR narrative and traditional film narrative.

So before that, I also read some articles about VR and films，Although some are difficult to understand, the immature technology will always be used as a reason for the slow development of AR.Once the problem is solved, VR will be as perfect as the 3D technology and special effects technology, it will be the future of film art. Especially in the narrative technique of film.

But I think the biggest difficulty of VR films is that it is difficult to become a movie itself.and its about method of creative and art of narrative.

Because VR film are completely different from the entire creative system of films. The film has developed for 120 years and has already formed a very good language system.its Including: Viewpoints, scenes, schedules, angles, sounds, sports...And only paying attention to the narrative, will make other visual elements out of control at the same time .

The essence of the film is "box" framed vision. The "box" is the information experience area that the director gives to the audience. The box is the space that the director recreates for the audience for his artistic creation. And the visual space is the key to confirming the world inside or outside the box.just like, the atmosphere of the long shot, the action of the middle shot, the mood of the close shot.In the movie, different scenes have their unique functions, which is the characteristic that it can reshape reality.

The senses in the movie are different from the senses in reality.films is the space for creating psychological analysis,is the art of hiding information.VR is magnify sensory effects to reduce visual logic. it lost the space outside the picture, at same time, lost the narrative tension.

one example, I just watched “The Silence of the Lambs” in the morning.



Clarice breaks into Buffalo Bill's home，

She is in danger but she does not know，At this moment, the director let the audience enter both character at the same time, and we can feel the absolute superiority of Bill and the fear of Claris.The contradiction between the two creates a huge emotional tension, and the story becomes horrible.


Until Bill pulled the trigger, Claris turned and killed Bill. The picture becomes brighter, cuts to the objective point of view, and the danger is lifted.

An important means of mobilizing emotions in movies is information transformation.
An information character A does not know, but the audience knows.
Some information character A knows, but the audience does not know.
Some information character A does not know, and character B knows.

These points are created by the intertwining of "subjective lens" and "objective lens". and those will never happend on VR.

Because VR can only select a single viewpoint, it cannot be switched. It emphasizes immersion, so you must be a character in the story and enter his/her point of view to enter the story.

Long-term single-viewpoints can cause visual fatigue in the audience, while clips in VR films can break the rhythm due to viewpoint intrusion. short films and games may be more suitable for VR.