How to start storytelling in 360° - conceptualization
Last updated
Last updated
Some VR developers and storytellers stress the importance of spatiality. They recommend moving away from a linear story structure where everything plays out chronologically one after another.
Check out following examples:
Portal to a new world
Climate apocalypse
Mondriaan
In a virtual reality (VR) application, the role of the user is to actively engage with the virtual environment and interact with the content presented to them. The user is not just a passive observer, but an active participant in the experience.
The user has the ability to look around, move and interact with the virtual environment using VR input devices such as controllers, head-mounted displays, or hand-tracking devices. This allows them to fully immerse themselves in the virtual world and interact with it in a natural way.
The user is also able to interact with the virtual environment in a variety of ways, such as manipulating objects, navigating through the environment, and making choices that affect the outcome of the experience. Depending on the type of VR application, the user can be placed in the role of a character, or be able to control a character or an avatar.
Additionally, the user's actions and movements in the virtual environment can be tracked and used to personalize the experience, adapt the story or gameplay, or to provide feedback to the user.
A virtual reality (VR) application can also be experienced as a passive viewer, where the user is not actively engaged in the virtual environment and does not interact with the content. Instead, the user is presented with a pre-determined sequence of events, such as a video or animation, and is able to look around the virtual environment in a limited way, such as panning or tilting their head.
This type of experience can be found in VR videos and VR experiences that focus on the visual and auditory aspects of the virtual environment, rather than the interactive aspect. This can include VR experiences such as 360-degree videos, VR movies, VR documentaries, and VR guided tours.
In this type of VR application, the user can still immerse themselves in the virtual environment, but they are not able to actively engage with it or interact with the content presented. This type of experience can also be seen as a way of providing a sense of presence, where the user is able to feel like they are in a different place and fully immersed in the virtual environment.
In a virtual reality (VR) application, the user perspective refers to the point of view or angle from which the user perceives and interacts with the virtual environment. There are two main types of user perspectives in VR: first-person and third-person.
A first-person perspective, the user perceives the virtual environment as if they were the character themselves. This type of perspective allows the user to feel like they are actually within the virtual environment, and can greatly enhance the sense of immersion and presence. This type of perspective is commonly used in VR games and simulations, allowing the user to control a character and move through the virtual environment.
A third-person perspective, the user observes the virtual environment and the characters from a distance, similar to how one would observe a scene in a movie or a game. This type of perspective allows the user to see the characters and their actions from a different perspective, rather than being fully immersed in their point of view. This type of perspective is commonly used in VR experiences where the user can observe the characters or objects in the environment.
The choice of user perspective in a VR application depends on the type of experience and the goals of the application. A first-person perspective can provide a sense of immersion, presence and control, while a third-person perspective can provide a sense of context and understanding of the virtual environment and the characters within it.
In this exclusive video, Laurie Anderson presents her prizewinning virtual reality work from 2017: “I wanted to see what it would be like to travel through stories, to make the viewer feel free,” the legendary multimedia artist says.
Laurie Anderson’s ‘Chalkroom’ (2017) has been created in collaboration with the Taiwanese artist Hsin-Chien Huang. In ‘Chalkroom’ it is possible to float around virtually and to explore a hand-drawn universe of sentences and words written in chalk on the walls, guided all the while by Laurie Anderson’s voice – stories and storytelling are at the heart of the work.
You can interact in different ways and e.g. experience letters intermittently floating towards you: “Like snow, they’re there to define the space and to show you a little bit about what it is. But they’re actually fractured languages, so it’s kind of exploded things.” The most important aspect of working in virtual reality for Anderson was the fact that this technology enables you to fly, “like in your dreams.” Anderson feels that everything that she’s ever done is about one thing: disembodiment. In virtual reality, this is even more evident, as you become the ultimate viewer, who has amazing abilities such as flying: “My goal is to make an experience that frees you.”
Being inside Anderson’s VR work is an isolated experiment not unlike reading a book, and one of the things that make it different is that it isn’t task-oriented but rather “visually dazzling.” Another difference is that it isn’t as “perfect, slick and shiny” as VR is in general: “The reason it’s ‘chalk room’ is it has a certain tactility and made-by-hand kind of thing, and it’s the opposite of what virtual reality usually is, which is distant and very synthetic. So this is gritty and drippy and filled with dust and dirt.” Moreover, Hsin-Chien Huang – who is responsible for the extensive programming – made it full of never-ending secrets: “’Chalkroom’ is a library of stories, and no one will ever find them all.”
Laurie Anderson (b. 1947) is a legendary award-winning multimedia artist based in New York. Initially trained as a sculptor, she has worked with painting, music, multimedia shows, drawings, operas, electronic software, theatre, films and installations throughout her career. Anderson became widely known outside the art world with her single ‘O Superman’, which reached number two on the UK pop charts in 1981. She is considered a pioneer of electronic music and is praised for her unique spoken word albums and multimedia art pieces. Among her most recent work is the film ‘Heart of a Dog’ (2015). In 2017 under the name of ‘La Camera Insabbiata’, ‘Chalkroom’ won for ‘Best VR Experience’ at the Venice Film Festival. Anderson's visual work has been presented in major museums throughout the United States and Europe. From May 2017 Laurie Anderson’s ’Chalkroom’ is on view at the MASS MoCA, Massachusetts, USA. For more about Anderson see: www.laurieanderson.com/
Laurie Anderson was interviewed by Kasper Bech Dyg at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark in connection with ‘Chalkroom’ being shown as part of the Louisiana Literature festival 23 – 27 August 2017.