Virtual Reality (VR) is slowly, if not stealthily taking over the world. Offering users immersive worlds, VR promises to transform the ways that we entertain ourselves. VR helps to make older media new again as it breathes life into the standards we have become accustomed to. The medium is finding applicability into many differing fields such as gaming, training material and education. Yet, in many ways, virtual reality is still finding its footing as creators attempt to identify more usable applications for the medium. And while VR has made major inroads into entertainment, it also comes as no surprise that animation is especially poised to make huge strides with regards to animation. Yet the question remains, how much does virtual reality have to offer the field of animation? Can it help to create something completely bold and new? What we are going to find out is that virtual reality is equipped to take animation to unseen realms.
See Everything
As John Lee Head of Productions at Spiel Creative noted, Animated videos can express so much without saying a word. In these videos, music and moving images can transport viewers into another dimension, cultivating emotions, entertaining, creating suspense, and engaging them to the end of the animation . Yet, for the most part, animated video is a representation of a three-dimensional world rendered for a two-dimensional screen. Even where 3D video is concerned, the limitation of the screen means that the 3D effect is somewhat nullified by the medium on which it is shown. Virtual reality gives animators the assurance that this hurdle can be crossed with the ability to create rich environments that aren’t compromised by the technology itself. Through VR, users will witness rich environments previously hampered by the shortfalls of by 2D rendering and appreciate the finer details in design that animators create with painstaking detail.
Boosts Interactivity
Before there was virtual reality, there were simply the viewer and the media. The viewer had no participation in the events unfolding on the screen and he or she was a non-factor in the story. While choose-your-own-adventure books and videos allowed users to take a greater part in the stories, the arrival of virtual reality promises an even richer immersive experience as it allows users to submerge themselves into the story. Not only will users be allowed to interact with the characters in the story, they can also become one of the characters.
Crank up Emotional Appeal
Story telling is all about manipulating the emotions of the viewer. Whether these emotions are happy, sad, afraid or surprised, the point of storytelling is to draw those emotions out of the viewer and then confront them with it. It is not surprising then that creating a more immersive environment using virtual reality will magnify the effect on the viewer. Some users liken the experience of VR to being conscious within a vivid dream. This is the type of reaction that virtual reality seeks to eke out from viewers. It wants to make viewers see themselves as characters in the story and not just bystanders. Users will have a heightened sense of empathy that is impossible with regular animation.
Adaptability
Using virtual reality to tell stories will also help to bridge the gap between animation and video games. With VR, animators will be able to create an immersive story in which users can go off the beaten path if they so wish. The world of virtual reality is similar to the real world in which the user has agency and can act upon his or her desires. Thus, creators can adapt their stories so that users can explore a plethora of choices that animation alone wouldn’t be able to provide. The user chooses how to participate and the creator’s job is to create as many avenues for expression as possible. This type of design will also encourage users to engage in repeat viewings as they attempt to exhaust all the possibilities present in the virtual world.
Guided Perspective
Animation, as shown on the screen, relies on a neutral observer. The audience is a blank canvas upon which the animation imparts its point of view. Virtual reality all but does away with that role of neutral observer. The viewer is now a participant in the story. Not only do the characters have a stake in the outcome, but so does the participant. The participant is made to adopt a perspective for the duration of the video. Yet, the user isn’t forced to take a particular perspective as in traditional animation. He or she can choose from one of many perspectives as he or she sees fit.
Different Experiences
Many people viewing an animated video will all have experienced it a homogenous way. While it’s true that every person is the sum total of his or her experiences and will, of course, have nuanced reactions to different parts of the work including characterization, setting, the nature of the conflict and the story’s final resolution. However, these differences are amplified when the story is told through virtual reality. Since it is possible for two people to have completely different treks through the virtual world, it is possible that their experiences in those virtual worlds are as dissimilar as chalk and cheese. So instead of a single story, the virtual reality creator has effectively crated multiple stories. Users will have the benefit of comparing their stories and reinserting themselves in the virtual worlds so as to experiences the minute differences.
The art of storytelling has been refined for thousands of years. New technology doesn’t drastically change the art form, but only gives it new tent poles under which it is practiced. While the future looks bright for the intersection of animation with virtual reality, keep in mind that we are yet to see how much of an effect VR can truly have on animation and storytelling. Clearly, with the creation of such immersive worlds and an abundance of paths and choices, the boundaries of virtual reality seem at times limitless. And with the rules of virtual reality still being reassessed, we may yet stumble upon new and fantastic applications for the medium. However, as of right now, animation seems destined for a healthy confluence with virtual reality.
