ABSTRACT
This chapter explores just some of the ways people can leverage this new visual language of cine-Virtual Reality (VR). In dramatic writing – be it literature, plays or scripts – a “beat” is considered the smallest unit of a story. A beat is used to conceptualize an action, a change, or a decision that moves the story forward, often sending the story off in a new direction. Screenwriters also used the term “a beat” to imply that there is a pregnant pause in the story. Cine-VR certainly uses both forms of dramatic beats in the same way as its predecessors – but with one critical adjustment. It's important to note that in this description of the cine-VR experience, there is no mention of a story yet. Curtain beats borrow the concept of an end-of-act curtain from theater. In many plays performed on a proscenium stage, a curtain will literally be pulled closed across the stage between scenes.
