Embodiment Viewpoint Modes 2024
Embodiment viewpoint modes practice (2024) explores the concept of viewer embodiment and its connection to the cinematic concept of narrative viewpoint in 3-DoF CVR. CVR is a subcategory of VR known as ‘cinematic virtual reality’ (CVR), which refers to VR-based film or 360- degree video content that focuses on immersive viewing experiences, most associated with three degrees of freedom (3DoF) experience allowing the viewer to look up and down and to rotate left and right from a fixed central axis. CVR is a distinct storytelling medium, unlike traditional 2D screen film, the narrative experience offered in the 360-degree VR documentary format is not confined within a screen. Many research has been done on embodiment and presence in relation to Virtual Reality (VR), however, there is a lack of existing literature on the narrative effects of embodiment and viewpoint in narrative CVR films (Palma Stade, T., Schofield, G. & Moore, G. 2023). I defined three viewpoint experience in 3-DoF format CVR: protagonist, observer/ witness, and omniscient viewpoint.
Numbers of scholars have explored 3DoF CVR viewer positioning (Mateer, 2017, Dooley, 2021, Nicolae, 2018, PalmaSchofield and Moore, 2023, Dolan and Parets, 2016). Mateer refers to two perspectives within CVR: the first-person role that involves direct address from story characters, and the third-person role that involves invisible observation of the action (Mateer, 2017). Dolan and Parets explore two types of interaction viewer positioning in a 3DoF CVR format - observant passive and participant passive (Dolan and Parets, 2016). These viewpoint classifications have been widely adopted in CVR research. However, these models overlook a dimension of CVR affordance - embodiment: Viewing position could impose a perceptual identity structure onto the immersant. Fixed viewpoint is not merely a matter of perspective, it carries affective implications regarding how the immersant is positioned as an identity inside the narrative. Drawing upon my own viewing experiences and my practices in 3DoF CVR documentary, I recognize three distinct imersant viewpoints: the protagonist viewpoint, the observer/witness viewpoint, and the omniscient viewpoint.
Viewpoint Type: Protagonist - without virtual visible body
Immersant Identity: Embodied protagonist identity
Acknowledged by Characters: Yes
Spatial/Narrative Position: The immersants at the heart of the filmic space, but also at the heart of the story.
Viewpoint Type: Protagonist - with virtual visible body
Immersant Identity: Embodied protagonist identity
Acknowledged by Characters: Yes
Spatial/Narrative Position: The immersants at the heart of the filmic space, but also at the heart of the story.
Viewpoint Type: Observer/ witness viewpoint
Immersant Identity: Retains self-identity and part of protagonist’s experience
Acknowledged by Characters: No
Spatial/Narrative Position: The immersants at the heart of the filmic space, but not at the heart of the story.
Viewpoint Type: The omniscient viewpoint
Immersant Identity: Retains self-identity
Acknowledged by Characters: No
Spatial/Narrative Position: The immersants may or not at the heart of the filmic space, not at the heart of the story.