ABSTRACT
Virtual reality (VR) storytelling allows unprecedented levels of interactivity, sometimes at the cost of traditional methods for telling a story—a tradeoff described as the “narrative paradox” in gaming literature. This chapter discusses embodied montage, a technique that draws from film montage, adapted to the physical, sensory world of VR storytelling. Embodied montage offers a response to narrative paradox in interactive experiences and serves as a narrative tool for virtual reality. Embodied montage can be additive or subtractive: it can either create a new pairing between action and consequence or it can break an already existing pairing. The chapter describes specific techniques by looking at examples of existing VR artwork. VR peripherals, like controls, microphones, and the head-mounted display work in tandem to provide information about our physical movements, such as gaze, voice, height, and so on to the computational system.
