The problems with VR immersive Storytelling
Storytelling in VR has a problem.
Firstly, stories are usually retrospective. They draw people together to talk about past events and learn from them. It's a way of connecting and sharing information.
Creating real time events in VR content relies upon existing forms of linear narrative, at the cross point of video games and film world.
Video games become more realistic with deeper and richer stories but the mechanism stays the same, either a cut scene or a cut scene with player choices. (Press 'X' not to die)
Is player interaction within a story still a story or is it now a game?
Way before video games, I loved to play RPG. Especially 'Vampire Masquerade' and 'Dungeons & Dragons.' Yes, both of these has a set of principle game mechanics but the story was constantly evolving as players took their turns. The job of the games master was to hold everything together, trying and stick to the main plot whilst everyone else did their own thing. It sounds like a nightmare but actually was a lot of fun. This level of complexity is very difficult to achieve in a video game with people choices usually ranging from 2 to 4 preset selected answers.
So maybe we need more of a traditional film mindset.
More film makers and social media sites are adopting VR and slowly the general public are being exposed to 360 film.
However, here comes the problem. VR isn't intended to be used for hours and hours, it's more of a short experience which they player will want to use many times. I'd love to see the extended edition of 'Lord of the Rings' in VR but I don't think I could cope with more than an hour. Can you imagine being on a continuous roller coaster for hours and hours?
The answer is short film. Or rather short 'experience' film.
Trying to fit VR into a preformed film medium is impossible, it has it's own strengths and weakness. we just need to find a conformed way to manage them.
Currently the preferred method is to focus the action in front of the player whilst the rear 180 degrees adds to the immersion. But then what's the point of doing it in 360 VR, why not just make a traditional 2D film?
Player interaction is limited, but often a trick is being used to imply that the view is really there in the scene by a character bring the fourth wall. This brings on the 'Swayze effect' referring to his film 'Ghost'. We are like the ghost in the room, we can't interact even though other characters are aware of us. This quickly becomes frustrating, it's like trying to talk to a youtube video.
But imagine if we had the technology to program thousands of different responses and we could interact with the story, maybe even invite other players to the experience in a virtual multi viewing?
But then we've transgressed from the silver screen, to video games, to theater and finally ended up at panto.
"He's behind you!" would certainly work in 360, but is it the experience we want?
Having thought about this problem for sometime, I believe we should try to set some guidelines for consistency and turn the weaknesses into features.
1. You really want to use 'all' of the 3D environment to tell the story including effects, audio and npcs etc. Think about watching theater but you're sat in the middle of the stage.
2. You need to help the viewer follow the point of interest without being forced or punished for looking in the wrong direction.
3. The action needs to be dynamic enough that the player will see it and be interested enough to want to follow the event.
4. Player interaction and fourth wall is for video games and panto. We are storytellers. (Yes a few films and event comics also break this rule such as 'Deadpool' but they still evoke the Swayze effect which ultimately gets less personal the more you view it.)
5. The story should be interesting enough to create an emotional response, and maybe dynamic enough to be viewed several times with smaller character actions adding more layers to the story yet subtle enough to not distract from the main story action. These smaller events can even possibly change the way to think about the main story, creating the opportunity for repeat viewing and justifying the price of the story experience.
Firstly, stories are usually retrospective. They draw people together to talk about past events and learn from them. It's a way of connecting and sharing information.
Creating real time events in VR content relies upon existing forms of linear narrative, at the cross point of video games and film world.
Video games become more realistic with deeper and richer stories but the mechanism stays the same, either a cut scene or a cut scene with player choices. (Press 'X' not to die)
Is player interaction within a story still a story or is it now a game?
Way before video games, I loved to play RPG. Especially 'Vampire Masquerade' and 'Dungeons & Dragons.' Yes, both of these has a set of principle game mechanics but the story was constantly evolving as players took their turns. The job of the games master was to hold everything together, trying and stick to the main plot whilst everyone else did their own thing. It sounds like a nightmare but actually was a lot of fun. This level of complexity is very difficult to achieve in a video game with people choices usually ranging from 2 to 4 preset selected answers.
So maybe we need more of a traditional film mindset.
More film makers and social media sites are adopting VR and slowly the general public are being exposed to 360 film.
However, here comes the problem. VR isn't intended to be used for hours and hours, it's more of a short experience which they player will want to use many times. I'd love to see the extended edition of 'Lord of the Rings' in VR but I don't think I could cope with more than an hour. Can you imagine being on a continuous roller coaster for hours and hours?
The answer is short film. Or rather short 'experience' film.
Trying to fit VR into a preformed film medium is impossible, it has it's own strengths and weakness. we just need to find a conformed way to manage them.
Currently the preferred method is to focus the action in front of the player whilst the rear 180 degrees adds to the immersion. But then what's the point of doing it in 360 VR, why not just make a traditional 2D film?
Player interaction is limited, but often a trick is being used to imply that the view is really there in the scene by a character bring the fourth wall. This brings on the 'Swayze effect' referring to his film 'Ghost'. We are like the ghost in the room, we can't interact even though other characters are aware of us. This quickly becomes frustrating, it's like trying to talk to a youtube video.
But imagine if we had the technology to program thousands of different responses and we could interact with the story, maybe even invite other players to the experience in a virtual multi viewing?
But then we've transgressed from the silver screen, to video games, to theater and finally ended up at panto.
"He's behind you!" would certainly work in 360, but is it the experience we want?
Having thought about this problem for sometime, I believe we should try to set some guidelines for consistency and turn the weaknesses into features.
1. You really want to use 'all' of the 3D environment to tell the story including effects, audio and npcs etc. Think about watching theater but you're sat in the middle of the stage.
2. You need to help the viewer follow the point of interest without being forced or punished for looking in the wrong direction.
3. The action needs to be dynamic enough that the player will see it and be interested enough to want to follow the event.
4. Player interaction and fourth wall is for video games and panto. We are storytellers. (Yes a few films and event comics also break this rule such as 'Deadpool' but they still evoke the Swayze effect which ultimately gets less personal the more you view it.)
5. The story should be interesting enough to create an emotional response, and maybe dynamic enough to be viewed several times with smaller character actions adding more layers to the story yet subtle enough to not distract from the main story action. These smaller events can even possibly change the way to think about the main story, creating the opportunity for repeat viewing and justifying the price of the story experience.
