Archive | 2019
Effects of Character Guide in Immersive Virtual Reality Stories
Abstract
Bringing cinematic experiences from traditional film screens into Virtual Reality (VR) has become increasingly popular in recent years. However, striking a balance between storytelling and user interaction can cause a big challenge for filmmakers. In this paper, we present a media review on the common strategies that constructed the existing framework of computer generated cinematic VR by evaluating over 80 real-time rendered interactive experiences across different media. We summarized the most-used methods, which creators applied to maintain a relative control when presenting a narrative experience in VR, that were associated with story-progression strategies and attention guidance techniques. We then approach the problem of guiding the audience through major events of a story in VR by using a virtual character as a travel guide providing assistance in directing viewers attention to the target. To assess the effectiveness of this technique, we performed a controlled experiment applying the method in three VR videos. The experiment compared three variations of the character guide: (1) no guide, (2) a guide with a matching art style to the video, and (3) a guide with a non-matching art style. The experiment results provided insights for future directors and designers into how to draw viewers attention to a target point within a narrative VE, such as what could be improved and what should be avoided.