ABSTRACT
Storytelling grammar is a shared effort; viewers must understand the medium and its parameters and learn how to read the storyteller’s cues. Because the viewer is acting as a camera within an immersive scene, looking directly at the camera, gives the sense of looking directly at viewer. This can be used as a tool to give the viewer a sense of presence and embodiment, and it can take the viewer out of the story if a character breaks social expectations by staring too long. Augmented reality is similarly about space, though the mechanism is flipped—bringing content to the viewer’s own physical world and creating a personal connection to the material. Narrative immersive media can fall into what feels like an awkward middle ground for user agency. While much is made of the loss of control immersive creators grapple with in losing the ability to force perspective, in virtual reality they gain an immense amount of control over the viewer’s environment.
