VR as a Storytelling Tool
Celine Tricart · 2017
Virtual reality (VR) storytelling will become more and more important as this technology progresses and Head-Mounted Displays (HMDs) reach the general public. This chapter looks at the narrative aspect of virtual reality. Virtual reality offers three unique elements to the narrative, no matter if cinematic or interactive VR is used: immersion, presence, and embodiment. VR promises to create virtual worlds so real that the audience feels as if they are physically present in a digital space. VR directors are matadors, shaking the red cape left and right to guide the participants. As always when working with a tool as powerful as VR sound, there is a risk of over-doing it. Sound design must first and foremost move the story forward and not just act as the matador&s;s red cape. A lot of VR filmmakers decide to cut only when there is a change of location and/or time, using the unsettling effect of the cut to their advantage.