Right from the get-go this article stumbles into the crux of the problem with all storytelling in Virtual Reality:
"As VR storytellers, we are charged with molding experience itself into story, and none of our storytelling tools have prepared us fully for that. As we stumble our way into this new, mysterious medium, we ask ourselves, "How do we tell a story for the audience when the audience is present within it?" (Newton, 2016)
That really gets to the heart of the matter. How VR differs from other storytelling mediums is that it unlike say film for example, it doesn't deal in "frames". Instead of looking at a series of squares that contain information that linearly leads into a narrative, we as the audience are within the story as if it were a giant sphere, and we can look anywhere at any time. This newly found presence within the story creates a desire to do something to effect the story and that's where narrative designers need to come into the mix, we have to find a way to direct them to the interactions they can have which will change the story.
This article differs from previous articles I've read and reviewed, in that they actually conducted experiments to find out how audiences perceive their role within a VR environment.
"To explore the audience's experience in VR we... ...used scenes and locations from Paisley Smith's VR documentary, Taro's World. ...all our experiments were low-fidelity and analogue, allowing us to adapt and respond to new questions as they arose. Adapting a technique called "experience prototyping" we created physical experiences in the real world involving real people. These analog tests, rooted in an HCD approach, allowed us to learn about the audience behavior quickly, inexpensively, and on a flexible timeline independent from that of VR developers and artists.
We mimicked the constraints of VR technology, restricting our participants' movements and interactions to match the affordances of Google Cardboard. We created "magic goggles" (actually made of plastic, paper, tape, and a front-facing camera) that limited the audiences peripheral view while simultaneously recording their head movements. When participants wore the magic goggles, their head movements replicated those of someone in a mobile VR headset, compelling them to "stitch" the scenes of the 360 degrees story-world together themselves." (Newton, 2016)
The researchers re-enacted scenes from the documentary in real life with the test subjects wearing "VR headsets" and having restrictions imposed on them like in a VR experience. For example: "Participants were placed in the center of a room simulating Taro's bedroom. While wearing headphones with 360 degrees sound, they watched a scene play out in the room. In one condition of the test, the participant's view was restricted to 90 degrees of the room. These participants saw a desk where Taro sat playing video games." (Newton, 2016)
I found it interesting that in this particular experiment, the researchers discovered that: "With this restricted vision, the audience paid super-close attention to each of the objects, trying to find meaning. Among the objects was a plate of uneaten cookies, an insignificant prop setting the scene. In the test debrief, the cookies - without warning - took over the audience's understanding of the whole scene. Participants repeatedly asked questions like, "Why isn't he eating his cookies?" and "Why are the cookies crumbled that way? Who does that?" (Newton, 2016)
This calls into question our ability as writers to have unimportant props, or possibly even "walkthrough characters" (unimportant extras that walk through the story) as the audience, being restricted to a certain POV and feeling the sense of presence begin to look for meaning in the most minor of things. As the researchers themselves pointed out: "When the audience has limited visual information they will work twice as hard to make meaning out of every detail they see. If something doesn't jive with their expectations, it takes them out of the experience. It sends them into detective mode, investigating the scene from a distance." (Newton, 2016)
In another test, the researchers found that context played a large part in audience attention. They placed the audience in a classroom scene at the back of the classroom, with the intended story objective for the audience to observe the central character at class. Instead, they found the audience felt a need to listen to the teacher, and try decipher a note being passed around by students. They took on the role of a student within the story because of the context of the environment they were in. On the flip side, putting an audience member up the front of the class, either caused anxiety, or the audience member to slide into the role of the teacher themselves. This theme continues in other scenes as well, such as an audience member standing in the middle of a bedroom watching a character, felt uncomfortable and voyeuristic being there.
"We suspect this is partially attributed to not knowing how to act in this setting, a setting that is typically private, and partly to feeling physically exposed in the middle of the room. To feel bodily present, these tests suggest the audience should understand who they are in the scene (even if who they are is a "fly on the wall") as much as where they are." (Newton, 2016)
This is interesting as well as it shows that we need to consider audience context when writing a scene, as without giving them a context or purpose, they will either assume one themselves and potentially miss the plot, or they will feel uncomfortable being there.
"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." (Newton, 2016)
Another interesting thing was discovered when researchers observed the audience members trying to piece together the story based off where they were looking in the scene. There was a reported FOMO or fear of missing out feeling that lingered over many of the test subjects after the test was done. For example, the note being passed around in the classroom scene was brought up time and time again by participants who felt as if they were missing out on a piece of the story by not knowing what was on that note, even though it wasn't necessarily important to the plot.
The researchers have noted however, that FOMO could be used to a narrative advantage for ambiguity within the story, such as the ending of the film "Lost In Translation" where the audience doesn't hear what Bill Murray whispers into Scarlett Johansson's ear.
All of these actual tests that were completed I found really fascinating and something worth exploring within my own work in this area. The article ends with this final gem of information, that I felt was worth transposing to here:
"It's actually not the audience that feels the need to influence the story - they have enough to "do." Instead, the storyteller needs to shift how they think of themselves, moving away from "director" and towards the role of "influencer." After all, influencing the audience is all that directors can do: we can't frame the shots for them; we can't cut away. Instead, storytellers have to behave like a matador, waving the red cape in the direction they want the audience to run, knowing that the power ultimately lies in the audiences hands to see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear and form their own stories about what they have experienced.
We can borrow techniques from other media - from theatre, art, film and design - to draw the audience's focus. But in order to choose whether to show a color, break the 4th wall, etc., we have to first put ourselves in the audience's shoes and understand their cognitive, emotional and physical experience. We need to embrace human-centered design lens of "audience experience", and let that guide our choices." (Newton, 2016)
REFERENCES
Damiani, J. (2016, June 16). Storytelling in virtual reality: The basics | The huffington post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-damiani/storytelling-in-virtual-r_b_10448832.html
Newton, K. (2016, April 7). The storyteller’s guide to the virtual reality audience. Retrieved from https://medium.com/stanford-d-school/the-storyteller-s-guide-to-the-virtual-reality-audience-19e92da57497
No comments:
Post a Comment