Tech: The Storyteller’s Guide to the Virtual Reality Audience

Georgie Weedon

Managing Editor of moc.media and filmmaker

Over ten weeks, they conducted 3 sets of experiments with over 40 participants and interviewed experts from multiple perspectives, from design-thinking, theatre, gaming, architecture, journalism, science, and film.

They partnered with Stanford’s d.school Media Experiments, the National Film Board of Canada, and independent filmmaker Paisley Smith. To anchor the testing, we used scenes and locations from Paisley Smith’s VR documentary, Taro’s World. The documentary explores the death of her Japanese exchange student brother, Taro, and the impact his suicide had on the people around him. Taro’s World will be released in 2016 for mobile VR — Google Cardboard and the Samsung Gear VR.

Watch their insightful behind the scenes film here:

VR Audience Experience: Top Five Takeaways

1. Reality is constructed

When the audience has limited visual information they will work twice as hard to make meaning out of every detail they see. So if something doesn’t jive with their expectations, it takes them out of the experience and sends them into detective mode, investigating the scene from a distance rather than feeling it emotionally.

2. Having a body means being somebody

There is no such thing as a neutral observer. How can we give the audience enough context to feel comfortable being present in this environment? As if they are "angels" in the space, witnessing without actually interacting.

3. Looking is doing

For better or worse, the audience directs their own gaze. Because it is impossible for humans to see in 360°, they must actively choose what to look at and when. Looking gives the audience agency, not to change or affect the story in VR, but to choose which pieces of the story they take in, make meaning out of and combine with other information to form a story in their minds. As the storyteller, how can you draw attention to the most important story points?

4. The more there is to see, the less the audience remembers.

As the storyteller, you need to consider how to combine audio and visual elements without overloading the audience.

5. 360° is more than full circle

The more complete the environment, the more it resonates. When you feel present in an experience, you are more likely to rely on abstractions and pick up on feelings, and when you are in “detective mode” you are more likely to pick up on story details, but have difficulty accessing feelings. Perhaps being present and retaining story details are fundamentally at odds.

For more information: medium.com