Effects of Character Guide in Immersive Virtual Reality Stories

Abstract

Bringing cinematic experiences from traditional film screens into Virtual Reality (VR) has become an increasingly popular form of entertainment in recent years. VR provides viewers unprecedented film experience that allows them to freely explore around the environment and even interact with virtual props and characters. For the audience, this kind of experience raises their sense of presence in a different world, and may even stimulate their full immersion in story scenarios. However, different from traditional film-making, where the audience is completely passive in following along director's decisions of storytelling, more freedom in VR might cause viewers to get lost on halfway watching a series of events that build up a story. Therefore, striking a balance between user interaction and narrative progression is a big challenge for filmmakers. To assist in organizing the research space, we presented a media review and the resulting framework to characterize the primary differences among different variations of film, media, games, and VR storytelling. The evaluation in particular provided us with knowledge that were closely associated with story-progression strategies and gaze redirection methods for interactive content in the commercial domain. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank my committee chair, Dr. Eric Ragan, for his continuous guidance and support throughout the course of my thesis research. I am beyond grateful for the time he spent working with me, his patience and advice. I also appreciate my committee co-chair, Dr. Ann McNamara, and my committee member, Dr. Jing Du, for guiding me through and showing me different perspectives during my thesis work. Thanks also go to my friends and the department faculty and staff for making my time at Texas A&M University a valuable experience. Finally, thanks to my family back in China for their love, encouragement and support.

A Study on Attention Attracting Elements of 360-Degree Videos Based on VR Eye-Tracking System

“…The study by Mateer (2017) argued that even though 360 VR is similar to existing film in terms of sequence, in 360-degree VR directing techniques, elements, such as directing, positioning of actions, and specific viewing angles to control the users' movement, are more important [6]. In the study by Xu (2018), setting up a guiding character in a style similar to a virtual environment enhances interaction and storytelling effects and positively affects viewer satisfaction [18]. The study by Fearghail (2018) argued that in 360-degree VR video directing, the producer's intentional emphasis on the viewer gaze increases visual discomfort; therefore, directing techniques that produce guidelines related to 360-degree VR videos and utilize the spatial characteristics of VR are needed [8].…”

Reconstructing Personal Stories in Virtual Reality as a Mechanism to Recover the Self

“…The prospects of VR as a storytelling medium for varying purposes increase dramatically each year as the ability to guide the experience during immersion increases the effect of the presence that the medium has on the person experiencing it [126,127]. When this is applied to the treatment of disorders such as PTSD and similar mental health issues, it offers many benefits to the therapy such as the dissolution of barriers such as stigma or cost [128,129].…”

Research on Human Computer Interaction Technology in Virtual Reality Scenes

“…Rich sound rendering technology also creates a more three dimensional auditory environment for users. The comprehensive application of these technologies has greatly enhanced the realism and immersion of the VR experience, making users feel as if they are in a brand new virtual world [2]. Although technology continues to advance, human computer interaction technology still faces many problems in VR scenarios.…”