Evolving Storytelling Through XR Technologies
The core construct of traditional storytelling is the linear narrative and the ancient art of the storyteller can be used a starting point. Sitting around a campfire, an audience gathers, usually in a circle, and listens to the stories and songs of
Theater offers an audience a more immersive experience of a story. Stagecraft evokes the narrative world and the audience identifies with the actors playing the roles of the characters. Temporally, the experience is still linear and continuous but t
In film, the focal point is further expanded. The story is composed through a montage of different perspectives. Temporal engagement still follows a linear and continuous format, but the focal point shifts continuously and dramatically within the wo
In TV, the story becomes discontinuous and episodic. The focal point mimics film in the form of the montage within the screen, but temporally the audience engages and disengages at will.
A more significant shift comes with the transition from analog to digital media. Native digital storytelling is participatory and interactive, disrupting many of the tenets of classical storytelling. In gaming, the audience becomes the protagonist a
When you follow someone on social media, you are a live witness to their story, which has no clear ending and is told from an infinite number of discrete focal points derived from their journey through life. And, you are presumably contributing your
The next paradigm shift in storytelling is now arriving with the onset of virtual and mixed reality platforms. In virtual reality, the story you are witnessing or experiencing becomes perceptually indistinguishable from your reality. You are fully i
Comparably, but differently, in mixed reality, the story seamlessly integrates with your physical environment and your immediate perceptual framework. Again, merging your reality with the world of the story. Virtual and mixed reality storytelling la
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