Dwaraka: An Immersive Storytelling Experience Represented in Virtual Reality Through a Graphic Novel

This thesis showcases the development of a narrative Virtual Reality (VR) experience told in the form of an immersive graphic novel. Virtual reality has the potential to be one of the more intimate forms of storytelling since it puts the user in the center of the story or scene. Similarly the graphic novel is an excellent storytelling device since it relies more on visuals rather than writing, enabling readers to absorb information faster without losing focus. Together they become a visually evocative experience for the audience by enabling them to not just look through the visuals but also jump into each panel and experience the story firsthand. Drawing inspiration from artists and writers like Alan Moore, Hokusai and Shinichiro Watanabe, along with elements from Indian mythology, I have created a graphic narrative based on a poem and present it as an immersive VR experience using the VR 3D painting and animation tool Oculus Quill

Co-Creating with the Senses: Towards an Embodiment Grammar for Conceptualising Virtual Reality (VR) Narrative Design

This creative practice thesis comprises two components, a dissertation titled Co-Creating with the Senses: Towards an Embodiment Grammar for Conceptualising Virtual Reality (VR) Narrative Design and a creative work, The Recluse, a fictional VR script written in the Maria Vargas Immersive Play template, available through Final Draft. The advent of publicly available virtual reality (VR) technologies has led to the emergence of a new genre of storytelling, henceforth referred to as ‘VR narratives’. There has therefore been a need to articulate its defining grammar and to contribute insights born out of artistic experimentation in a scholarly field which until recently was dominated by scientific points of view. Employing a somaesthetics approach outlined by researcher Kristina Höök, the dissertation draws on a qualitative study into 10 VR narrative works in order to propose an embodiment grammar through which the art form may be conceptualised. The study’s findings, a group of eight embodied states organised into a framework, urge for the relenting of authorial control in order to instead frame affective potential, thus echoing a Deleuzian concept of the assemblage. In particular, the framework draws attention to the way that VR’s deeper affective dimensions may be elucidated by framing co-creation through the medium’s distinct sensory possibilities. As interest gathers in a future metaverse, the insights raised by the study are significant, with potential applications in a range of affective design contexts. The Recluse is my original contribution to this emerging art form and a case study through which to interrogate the framework’s findings. A mystery with supernatural elements, the VR script aims to communicate an experience that transports the participant to the world of Alma Cohen, a famous artist turned recluse, where they are invited to experience the strange occurrences in Alma’s life through their own embodied actions. The VR script explores the potential for intimate encounters with virtual characters and the sensory, co-creational and affective possibilities which arise through these dynamics. It highlights, following the framework, the way that more open structuring approaches are required in order to access the medium’s deeper affective possibilities and also the present technological constraints in achieving this

The REVEAL educational environmental narrative framework for PlayStation VR

The REVEAL project is pioneering the use of PlayStation VR for educational applications which engage audiences in Europe's rich scientific and cultural heritage. The REVEAL software framework facilitates the development of Educational Environmental Narrative (EEN) games in virtual reality for the PlayStation 4. The framework is composed of a set of software layers and editor plugins which augment an existing game engine technology ("The PhyreEngine") and facilitate its transfer to educational applications. The PhyreEngine was created by Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe and is free and open source to registered PlayStation developers, including academic partners under the PlayStation First scheme. The REVEAL framework is built on top of the PhyreEngine and will be made similarly available to PlayStation developers through Sony Interactive Entertainment's developer network. This paper describes the functionality and design of the REVEAL framework, including its graph-based architecture, node-based locomotion system and high-resolution paper artefact rendering system. Key supporting tools are also described, including the Story Scaffolding Tool and its role in collecting detailed game analytics. The application of the framework is illustrated through an EEN case study application based on the life of Dr. Edward Jenner: the 18th century scientist credited with the discovery of vaccination. Finally, we discuss how we will empirically evaluate the effectiveness of a VR application and its components

Immersive Journalism as Storytelling

"This book sets out cutting-edge new research and examines future prospects on 360-degree video, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) in journalism, analyzing and discussing virtual world experiments from a range of perspectives. Featuring contributions from a diverse range of scholars, Immersive Journalism as Storytelling highlights both the opportunities and the challenges presented by this form of storytelling. The book discusses how immersive journalism has the potential to reach new audiences, change the way stories are told, and provide more interactivity within the news industry. Aside from generating deeper emotional reactions and global perspectives, the book demonstrates how it can also diversify and upskill the news industry. Further contributions address the challenges, examining how immersive storytelling calls for reassessing issues of journalism ethics and truthfulness, transparency, privacy, manipulation, and surveillance, and questioning what it means to cover reality when a story is told in virtual reality. Chapters are grounded in empirical data such as content analyses and expert interviews, alongside insightful case studies that discuss Euronews, Nonny de la Peña’s Project Syria, and The New York Times’ NYTVR application. This book is written for journalism teachers, educators, and students, as well as scholars, politicians, lawmakers, and citizens with an interest in emerging technologies for media practice.

Quais as potencialidades da criação de um videoclip em Realidade Virtual?

The focus of this dissertation is in the potentiality of the creation of a music video in Virtual Reality (VR). As such, it was analyzed in the theoretical framework what are music videos, what is VR and, more specifically, what are music videos in VR, which is a unresearched topic in the academic field, to which this dissertation provides some basis for feature research in this area. A music video for VR was made for this dissertation as to better understand the potentialities of the medium. The music video was made under the conventional phases of audiovisual production. Then user tests were made for this music video in order to evaluate its characteristics. The tests were made with 3 independent samples because the music video was shown in desktop 360-2D, mobile-360-2D, and VR on a Head Mounted Display (HMD). This was done as to better understand the potentialities of VR by comparing it to other mediums. Each participant had to answer to a pre-test questionnaire, and to a post-test questionnaire. The analysis of the results showed that although VR offers the added benefit of immersion it also poses its own challenges and a completely new approach to music video making.O foco desta dissertação é na potencialidade de criação de videoclips em Realidade Virtual. Como tal, foi analisado no enquadramento teórico o que são videoclips, o que é a Realidade Virtual e, mais especificamente, o que são videoclips em Realidade Virtual, tópico sobre o qual não existe muita investigação no meio académico, de maneira a que esta dissertação serve como base para investigações futuras. Um videoclip foi feito para Realidade Virtual para a investigação da qual esta dissertação faz parte, a fim de perceber as potencialidades do meio. O videoclip foi criado com base nas fases convencionais de produção audiovisual. Feito isto foram feitos testes de utilizador para avaliar as características do videoclip. Estes testes foram feitos em 3 amostras independentes cada uma para um formato diferente de visualização de videoclips em Realidade Virtual, desktop-360-2D, mobile-360-2D e em Realidade Virtual com um Head Mounted Display. Isto foi feito de modo a perceber melhor as potencialidades da Realidade Virtual comparativamente com os outros meios. Cada participante teve de responder a um questionário pré-teste e a um questionário pós-teste. A análise dos resultados mostrou que apesar da Realidade Virtual oferecer o benefício da imersão, ela tem os seus desafios, e requere uma abordagem completamente nova para a realização de videoclips.Mestrado em Comunicação Multimédi

Immersive Journalism as Storytelling

"This book sets out cutting-edge new research and examines future prospects on 360-degree video, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) in journalism, analyzing and discussing virtual world experiments from a range of perspectives. Featuring contributions from a diverse range of scholars, Immersive Journalism as Storytelling highlights both the opportunities and the challenges presented by this form of storytelling. The book discusses how immersive journalism has the potential to reach new audiences, change the way stories are told, and provide more interactivity within the news industry. Aside from generating deeper emotional reactions and global perspectives, the book demonstrates how it can also diversify and upskill the news industry. Further contributions address the challenges, examining how immersive storytelling calls for reassessing issues of journalism ethics and truthfulness, transparency, privacy, manipulation, and surveillance, and questioning what it means to cover reality when a story is told in virtual reality. Chapters are grounded in empirical data such as content analyses and expert interviews, alongside insightful case studies that discuss Euronews, Nonny de la Peña’s Project Syria, and The New York Times’ NYTVR application. This book is written for journalism teachers, educators, and students, as well as scholars, politicians, lawmakers, and citizens with an interest in emerging technologies for media practice.

Immersive Journalism as Storytelling

This book sets out cutting-edge new research and examines future prospects on 360-degree video, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR) in journalism, analyzing and discussing virtual world experiments from a range of perspectives. Featuring contributions from a diverse range of scholars, Immersive Journalism as Storytelling highlights both the opportunities and the challenges presented by this form of storytelling. The book discusses how immersive journalism has the potential to reach new audiences, change the way stories are told, and provide more interactivity within the news industry. Aside from generating deeper emotional reactions and global perspectives, the book demonstrates how it can also diversify and upskill the news industry. Further contributions address the challenges, examining how immersive storytelling calls for reassessing issues of journalism ethics and truthfulness, transparency, privacy, manipulation, and surveillance, and questioning what it means to cover reality when a story is told in virtual reality. Chapters are grounded in empirical data such as content analyses and expert interviews alongside insightful case studies that discuss Euronews, Nonny de la Peña’s Project Syria, and The New York Times’ VR application NYTVR. This book is written for journalism teachers, educators, and students as well as scholars, politicians, lawmakers, and citizens with an interest in emerging technologies for media practice

Playing with Virtual Reality: Early Adopters of Commercial Immersive Technology

This dissertation examines early adopters of mass-marketed Virtual Reality (VR), as well as other immersive technologies, and the playful processes by which they incorporate the devices into their lives within New York City. Starting in 2016, relatively inexpensive head-mounted displays (HMDs) began to be manufactured and distributed by leaders in the game and information technology industries. However, even before these releases, developers and content creators were testing the devices through “development kits.” These de facto early adopters, who are distinctly commercially-oriented, acted as a launching point for the dissertation to scrutinize how, why and in what ways digital technologies spread to the wider public. Taking a multimethod approach that combines semi-structured interviews, two years of participant observation, media discourse analysis and autoethnography, the dissertation details a moment in the diffusion of an innovation and how publicity, social forces and industry influence adoption. This includes studying the media ecosystem which promotes and sustains VR, the role of New York City in framing opportunities and barriers for new users, and a description of meetups as important communities where devotees congregate. With Game Studies as a backdrop for analysis, the dissertation posits that the blurry relationship between labor and play held by most enthusiasts sustains the process of VR adoption. Their “playbor” colors not only the rhetoric and the focus of meetups, but also the activities, designs, and, most importantly, the financial and personal expenditures they put forth. Ultimately, play shapes the system of production by which adopters of commercial VR are introduced to the technology and, eventually, weave it into their lives. Situating play at the center of this system highlights that the assimilation of digital media is in part an embodied and irrational experience. It also suggests new models by which future innovations will spread to the public

3D Virtual Site Visit as an Alternative to On-Site Experience in Interior Design Education

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of 360-degree panorama-based Virtual Reality (360VR) as a tool to simulate real-world site visit experiences in interior design education. In the first stage of evaluation, the online survey was implemented to ask students about their learning experience of using 360VR. The second stage of 360 VR effectiveness evaluation focused on the objective comparison of students learning outcomes between the 360VR method and the traditional approach. The students’ experience survey results indicated that 360VR and virtual walkthrough experiences benefited students' understanding of the site during the design process. Students reflected positive 360 VR experiences on their engagement in learning, special layout, visualization, and educational effectiveness. The result of the student learning outcome evaluation showed no significant difference between 360 VR compared to no site visit. However, there was a significant improvement in students’ spatial planning, finish selection, and total scores when using the 360 VR method compared to an on-site visit

The Cthulhu Journey : storytelling through an architectural immersive experience

The exhibition of sequential art is becoming increasingly popular. The subjects of these shows vary from fantasy, horror to science fiction depending on the style of authors. Compared with other 2d images, sequential art requires more narrative framing. Typical exhibitions show sequential art like regular images, however narrative is the essence of sequential art. This thesis will find a way to exhibit sequential art forms in a way that respects that they are based in storytelling. I will develop an immersive experience of sequential art. Immersion is also a narrative-based experience, if we combine the immersive experience with the sequential art. Each will enhance the other. It used to be that immersive experiences made some reference to the architecture that housed them. Nowadays if you have a topic and a portable digital tool, the experience can take place even in blank boxes. To me, this is a loss. I hope to design a prototype of an exploratory and immersive visit in an adaptive reuse space, always with the goal of enhancing the narrative quality of sequential art. My intent is to bring people into the story and make them feel the rhythm of the stories with the help of spatial qualities. The site will be the first floor of the CIT building of the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence. Providence is the birthplace of the Cthulhu Mythos, which is popular in manga or cartoon works. CIT is a school building, in front of Johnson and Wales University, which will attract many students who are interested in manga. This sequential art exhibition will be centered on “Hellstar Remina”, a horror manga by Junji Ito, considering the psychological benefits of the horror experience. Through tilted floors, lighting, compression of space, eerie sounds and direct interaction with architectural elements that bring the visitor into close contact with the sequential art of “Hellstar Remina,” a feeling of unease and terror is created. In this way, the intent of the sequential art is achieved