Symposium:
Evolutions of Cinematic Virtual Reality
May 18 and 19, RRST 4.36
Just over a decade ago, the arrival of consumer-grade VR head mounted displays (HMDs) enabled the development of a new form of linear storytelling in digital virtual reality. In industrial and academic settings, this new narrative medium has been referred to as Cinematic Virtual Reality (Dooley 2021; Mateer 2017; Ross and Munt 2018), a label that recognises the adaptation of cinematic conventions and tropes within virtual spaces. The CVR medium continues to be well represented as an important filmic category within programs at major film and XR festivals around the world and has seen significant investments by leading media companies in the past. This symposium takes stock of recent developments in immersive linear storytelling.
Programme
Monday, May 18
8:30 am
Registration and Coffee
I. Welcome and Introduction
9:00 – 9:30 am
Tim Gruenewald, The University of Hong Kong
Welcome and Introduction
II. Remediation and CVR’s emerging grammar of storytelling
9:30 – 10:20 am
Kath Dooley, Adelaide University
Cinematic Virtual Reality Evolutions: Examining Continuities and Contradictions in Academic and Industrial Discourse
10-minute break
10:30 – 11:20 am
Stanley Lin, University of Southern California
Codifying Orthostereoscopic Film Language: Developments in Lensing, Exposure, Lighting, and VFX for High-Fidelity 180° VR
10-minute break
11:30 am – 12:20 pm
Yuqing Liu and Rui Lyu, The University of Hong Kong
Spatializing Horror: Reconfiguring Fear through The Faceless Lady
12:20 – 2 pm
Lunch Break
2:00 – 2:50 pm
Xu Xian, Lingnan University
Immersive Pedagogy in the Metaverse: A Framework for VR Cinematography Education and Creative Training
10-minute break
III. Spatial relationships, movement and embodiment in CVR
3:00 – 3:50 pm
Ariel Rogers, Northwestern University
Redirected Walking in Cinematic Virtual Reality
20-minute coffee break
4:10 – 5:00 pm
Sohail Dahdal, American University of Sharjah
Embodied Stillness: Motion as Memory in Cinematic Virtual Reality
10-minute break
5:10 – 6:00 pm
Luna Liu, Hong Kong Shue Yan University
Investigating Cinematic Mixed Reality Game: Adapting Traditional Suspense and Detective Narrative Heuristics to High-Fidelity Passthrough HMDs
7:30 pm
Dinner
Shek Tong Tsui Cooked Food Market
Tuesday, May 19
IV. Virtual witnessing, memory and critical engagement
9:00 – 9:50 am on Zoom
Dennis Lo, James Madison University
From Witness to Author: Cinematic VR’s Promise and Limits for Critical Spatial Computing
10-minute break
10:00 – 10:50 am
Nam Huh, Loughborough University
Embodied Testimony: Spatial Storytelling and Historical Memory in Cinematic Virtual Reality Documentary
10-minute break
11:00 am – 11:50 pm
Elke Reinhuber, City University of Hong Kong
Tracing Counterfactual Pathways: Embodied Performance and Cultural Heritage
11:50 – 1:00 pm
Lunch Break
V. Sensing space, the sensible and the intelligible
1:00 – 1:50 pm
Ágnes Karolina Bakk, The Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design
Directing Presence: Proximity and Embodied Experience in Cinematic VR
10-minute break
2:00 – 2:50 am
Alison Griffiths, Baruch College, City University of New York and CUNY Graduate Center
Proxy Bodies: A Radical Genealogy of VR
10-minute break
VI. Keynote Lecture
3:00 – 4:00 pm on Zoom
Nonny de la Peña, The Sydney Poitier New American Film School, Arizona State University
The Body is Along for the Ride: The power and considerations of embodiment in constructing immersive stories
20-minute coffee break
VII. Bodily representations, access and inclusion
4:30 – 5:20 pm
Kata Szita, Dublin City University
Adaptive Storytelling for Extended Reality
10-minute break
5:30 – 6:20 pm
Cecilia Chen and Luna Wang, The University of Hong Kong
Immersive Illness: Embodiment, Interactivity, and the Absent Body in CVR
V III. Closing Panel: Symposium Synthesis and Next Steps
6:20 – 7:00 pm
Tim Gruenewald and Kath Dooley