Discovering New Narrative Strategies and Cinematic Aesthetics of an Immersive Computer Animation

This research is about discovering narrative strategies, cinematic language andaesthetics of an immersive panoramic computer animation that utilise technology invirtual reality, 3D audio and computer graphics.Since the invention of cinema more than a century ago, the filmic language has evolvedwith one thing remained relatively unchanged - the rectangular screen. With the singlescreen, narratives are structured temporally. One point of view at a time. The frameselects and excludes parts of reality, filtering out but enhancing certain information. Theframe also acts as a compositional device, directing the audience’s eyes to see what thefilmmakers want them to see. The audience’s construction of the narrative space ismetaphorically speaking, on the other side of the screen.On a parallel historical path, panoramic screens, multiple projections, dome theatres, andvirtual reality systems have been used to create immersive and sometimes interactiveexperiences. In most of these works, the frame disappears. The audience’s gaze isliberated. The architectural space where a work is disseminated and received, becomesrelevant in the construction of the narrative space. Narratives can be structured not onlytemporally, but also spatially. Multiple events can be happening in all directions, evenbehind the audience. Narratives can be polychronic - story threads of different timeperiods simultaneously presented. These kinds of works are often grouped under theterm, “Expanded Cinema”, first coined by filmmaker Stan VanDerBeek in 1967 whoenvisioned a new mode of film and video experimentation.With the recent revival of interests in Virtual Reality (VR), I propose to explore thepotentials of the technology in storytelling. At this early stage of the “VR Renaissance”,most of the interests are in using the technology for gaming, or as a scientificvisualisation or architectural tool. However, there is a huge potential of using the currentVR technology to tell stories that are otherwise impossible to tell in the linear singlescreen form.This research will follow the spirit of Expanded Cinema, to understand the narrative andcinematic potentials of VR technology, and to search for new modes of expression. Inorder to do so, an immersive animation will be produced that will be loosely based onJorge Luis Borges’ short story, “Library of Babel”. The outcomes of this research willinclude an exhibit of the animation at the Creative Media Centre, City University ofHong Kong, and at international venues such as SIGGRAPH and Ars Electronica.