PND: autobiographical performance for virtual reality film

ABSTRACT

Contemporary Virtual Reality production often relies on increasing visual fidelity in order to enhance the creation of deep-space 360-degree worlds. In turn, performance is situated as one component of realist space that needs high-resolution images in order to support it. This paper considers what happens when this visual fidelity is foregone in favour of the production of a haptic, tactile visuality that draws attention to the material qualities of the 360-degree visual sphere and the performances that are a part of it. Using my autobiographical short 360-degree film PND as an example, I advocate that low-fi visual artefacts such as digital noise, over and under exposure, and glitch movement can provide a productive way to create new, embodied, relationships between performer and viewer in VR’s 360-degree space. In this way, new artistic paths for working with VR and performance are explored.

KEYWORDS:

• Virtual Reality
• autobiography
• haptic visuality
• embodiment

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributors

Dr Miriam Ross is Senior Lecturer in the Film Programme at Victoria University of Wellington. She works with new technologies to combine practice-based methods and traditional academic analysis. She is the author of South American Cinematic Culture: Policy, Production, Distribution and Exhibition (2010) and 3D Cinema: Optical Illusions and Tactile Experiences (2015) as well as publications and creative works relating to film industries, mobile media, virtual reality, stereoscopic media and film festivals.

ORCID

Miriam Ross http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3932-6617

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Victoria University of Wellington.