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Exploring Viewer Positioning and Attention Cues in a Cinematic Virtual Reality Documentary: A Creative Research Project

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This chapter interrogates two notions of importance for the cinematic virtual reality (CVR) documentary: viewer positioning and attention cues. I argue that careful consideration of these notions, alongside story modes, can foster memorable experiences for the viewer by mentally transporting them into the world of the subject, where cinematic moments unfold in real time. I will examine these areas with reference to the writing and direction of Impact: Beyond the Night Sky (2020). This CVR documentary recreates the memories of Perth-based Planetary Scientist, Dr Katarina Miljkovic, as a subjective experience. The narrative plays out in the first-person tense, bringing the viewer into her diegetic universe on earth and among a sky filled with impacts and collisions between bodies in our solar system.

Keywords: Character positioning ; Creative Practice Research ; Directing Attention ; Embodiment ; First-person experience ; Narration ; Point of view ; Screenwriting ; Subjective experience ; Virtual Reality

Hardback ISBN: 9781789387438
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Exploring Viewer Positioning and Attention Cues in a Cinematic Virtual Reality Documentary: A Creative Research Project
Intellect , 246 (2023); https://doi.org/10.1386/9781789387438_26
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References

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  2. Arora, G. ,, & Milk, C. . (Directors). ( 2015). Clouds Over Sidra [VR work]. United Nations SDG Action Campaign.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Batty, C. ,, & Kerrigan, S. . ( 2018). Introduction. In C. Batty & S. Kerrigan (Eds.), Screen production research: Creative practice as a mode of enquiry (pp. 1–10). Cham.
  4. Colinart, A. ,, La Burthe, A. ,, Middleton, P. ,, & Spinney, J. . (Directors). ( 2016). Notes on Blindness [VR work]. ARTE France.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Dooley, K. . ( 2019;). A question of proximity: Exploring a new screen grammar for 360-degree cinematic virtual reality. . Media Practice and Education, 21 (2) , 81–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/25741136.2019.1641005
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Dooley, K. . (Director). ( 2020). Impact: Beyond the Night Sky [VR work]. Stella & Blanche Films/ Nutshell Pictures.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Dooley, K . ( 2021). Cinematic virtual reality: A critical study of 21st century approaches and practices. Palgrave Macmillan;.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Laurel, B. . ( 2014). Computers as theatre (, 2nd. ed.). Addison-Wesley;.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. MacQuarrie, A. ,, & Steed, A. . ( 2017). Cinematic virtual reality: Evaluating the effect of display type on the viewing experience for panoramic video. In 2017 IEEE virtual reality (VR) (pp. 45–54). IEEE.
  10. Mateer, J. . ( 2017;). Directing for cinematic virtual reality: How the traditional film director's craft applies to immersive environments and notions of presence. . Journal of Media Practice, 18 (1), 14–25.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. McRoberts, J. . ( 2018;). Are we there yet? Media content and sense of presence in non-fiction virtual reality. . Studies in Documentary Film, 12 (2), 101–118.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Merewether, J. . ( 2015;). Shaping the documentary subject: Writing and visualizing the documentary and media art script. . Journal of Screenwriting, 6 (1), 89–113.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Milk, C. . ( 2015). How virtual reality can create the ultimate empathy machine. Ted Talks. https://www.ted.com/talks/chris_milk_how_virtual_reality_can_create_the_ultimate_empathy_machine
  14. Newton, K., , & Soukup, K. . ( 2016). The storyteller's guide to the virtual reality audience. Medium. https://medium.com/stanford-d-school/the-storyteller-s-guide-to-the-virtual-reality-audience-19e92da57497
  15. Nicolae, D. F. . ( 2018;). Spectator perspectives in virtual reality cinematography. The witness, the hero and the impersonator. . Ekphrasis. Images, Cinema, Theory, Media, 20 (2), 168–180.257
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Nielsen, L. T. ,, Møller, M. B. ,, Hartmeyer, S. D. ,, Ljung, T. C. ,, Nilsson, N. C. ,, Nordahl, R. ,, & Serafin, S. . ( 2016). Missing the point: An exploration of how to guide users’ attention during cinematic virtual reality. In Proceedings of the 22nd ACM conference on virtual reality software and technology (pp. 229–232). ACM Digital Library.
  17. Renov, M. . ( 1993). Toward a poetics of documentary.. In M. Renov . (Ed.), Theorizing documentary (pp. 12–36). Routledge;.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Ross, M. ,, & Munt, A. . ( 2018;). Cinematic virtual reality: Towards the spatialized screenplay. . Journal of Screenwriting, 9 (2), pp. 191–209. https://doi.org/10.1386/jocs.9.2.191_1
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Sánchez Laws, A. L. . ( 2020;). Can immersive journalism enhance empathy?. Digital Journalism, 8 (2), pp. 213–228.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Schön, D. . ( 1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Basic Books;/Temple Smith.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Schutte, N. S. ,, & Stilinović, E. J. . ( 2017;). Facilitating empathy through virtual reality. . Motivation and Emotion, 41 (6), 708–712.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Whitehead, B. ,, & Harper, P. . (Directors). ( 2018). The Antarctica Experience [VR work]. Whitespark Pictures.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Vosmeer, M. ,, & Schouten, B. . ( 2017). Project Orpheus a research study into 360 cinematic VR. In Proceedings of the 2017 ACM international conference on interactive experiences for TV and online video (pp. 85–90). ACM Digital Library.
  24. Wallworth, L. . (Director). ( 2016). Collisions [VR work]. Jaunt Studios.
     [Google Scholar]

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