Over the past decade, Cinematic Virtual Reality (CVR) has emerged as a distinct narrative form that merges cinematic composition with embodied, spatialized experience. My artistic research investigates how immersive media can visualise the choices we make – and the many we leave behind – by developing a vocabulary of counterfactuals within VR. This proposal revisits the conceptual and technical evolution of my CVR practice, beginning with my early 360° film Secret Detours and extending toward a new stereoscopic project engaging contemporary performance and Chinese cultural heritage.

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My first VR work, Secret Detours, explored the metaphor of the “forking path” as both a narrative strategy and a spatial cinematic device. Shot with a home-built three-GoPro array fitted with wide-angle adapters, the project set out to preserve a Chinese garden before it was about to be rebuilt, while inviting the viewer to contemplate alternative routes through the space. To deepen the embodied quality of an otherwise static environment, I collaborated with a choreographer and four performers whose subtle movements, gestures and interventions served as temporal markers within the spherical frame. Their presence helped transform 360° footage from a documentary capture into an experiential encounter, emphasizing the relationship between viewer agency, environmental cues, and narrative ambiguity.

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Building on these earlier experiments, my current project advances both the technical fidelity and thematic depth of my CVR practice. Using the Insta360 Pro II stereoscopic camera, I am now able to capture higher-resolution, volumetric-like spatiality that more effectively conveys the nuances of embodied performance. Central to this work is the integration of traditional Sichuan Opera face-changing elements, reimagined within contemporary urban and architectural settings. This juxtaposition foregrounds cultural memory as a form of immersive storytelling, positioning CVR as a site where heritage practices can be experienced anew, rather than merely as a technological medium.

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By tracing this progression – from a rudimentary camera array to a high-definition stereoscopic workflow, and from minimal action to complex performance – seeking to articulate how creators can adapt and expand cinematic conventions for VR’s unique affordances.

 

The paper will discuss several key topics aligned with the symposium’s aims:

• How embodiment and performer-driven staging enhance presence within linear VR;

• The role of counterfactual structures in non-interactive yet participatory narrative design;

• The affordances and limitations of VR cameras compared to game-engine-based immersive environments;

• Strategies for merging documentary impulses with choreographic and cultural performance elements.

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This project reflects the broader evolution of CVR toward more hybridised forms that bridge documentary, performance, and site-specific practice. By examining my workflow, creative decisions, and conceptual frameworks, I aim to contribute to the ongoing conversation about how cinematic storytelling continues to adapt within immersive virtual reality.

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CVR Films: Secret Detours (2018)

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Elke Reinhuber is Associate Professor at the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong, working with immersive media to explore the choices we make—and those we leave behind. With roots in photography and a fascination for alternative worlds, she creates artistic research that invites audiences into spaces of possibility. Much of her work involves capturing unique architectures and sites of cultural relevance, and seeks to expand performance into immersive spaces, whether in cylindrical environments, panoramic installations or VR, where she translates place, memory, and movement into experiences that unfold around the viewer. Her award‑winning work has been presented internationally in museums, festivals, and interdisciplinary contexts.