‘Immersive storytelling’ means as much as overwhelming the listener with your story. The idea existst that Virtual Reality (VR) technology may lead to more immersive stories but the last decades VR-applications have mostly been restriced to lab environments and specialised industries. Thanks to the the Google Cardboard-platform and the Oculus Rift-headset, VR-applications have recently become within reach of consumers. Therefore the potential breaktrough of immersive storytelling for a large audience challenges the field.
First, VR is often used as a gimmick, while still using the grammar of old media (such as movies or games). Storytellers have to learn the technical and productional side of immersive storytelling and they have to investigate how to embed new technical opportunities into new and old narrative techniques.
Second, few methods exist to evaluate the effectiveness of an immersive story. What makes an immersive story effective? In what ways could or should user experiences differ between more traditional stories and immersive stories?
The central research question of the project is how companies, organisations or cultural institutions can intensify the user experience of their audience by using virtual platforms? Answerring this question requires a multidisciplinary team which is formed by the following internal partners: Graphic and Digital Media, Electronics-ICT, Journalism, the Royal Academy and the Royal Conservatoire.
