Virtual Reality is not just another extension of film or theatre. Researchers and content creators are still experimenting on the all possible ways of approaching their virtually created environment. Constructing narratives is a difficult process due to the first person perspective and so the story should be viewed through the eyes of the user in order to prevent nausea , dead ends in term of the narrative’s meaning as well as failure of the experience’s message to cross over.
Addressing VR from a creative perspective, the art direction in a virtual experience is a complex and interesting field to experiment on. Since everything revolves around the user, then the orchestration of the props, clothes and generally the whole setting should be organised in order to surround the viewer. Virtual Reality is not a flat projection of a story , au contraire it is a sphere whose core is the viewer himself/herself. Therefore, the art director should build an environment that matches the story but because the user is immersed into it, the set plays an organic role to it maybe even more than in cinema. The props that are in the closest range to the user can be observed in detail and thus should be planned and imagined with caution. That is the reason why Virtual Reality works really well with games, the VR creators are the ones who construct a spheric world around a player who is no more a spectator/gamer but he is an organic part of the world. Thus, in order to assume his/her position as an integral piece of a world, the user should feel immersed and what better way to achieve that by forming a plausible and inviting environment.
In our case, since our VR experience is linked to a TV series, an environment that creates general or more direct connections to the content and atmosphere of the initial story is of high importance. The extra mile is when VR also creates an abstract layer in order for the majority of the users to come to their own results or have a unique after-death experience and that is an end we work towards.