I have previous experience managing VR in my position working at the Van Gogh Immersive experience. Here, I am responsible for ensuring all 15 headsets run smoothly throughout the day, so I have had to learn how to fully control them, as well as fix any problems if necessary, for example, rebooting them through the whole system. While at university I am more accustomed to using the Oculus Go model, but the model we use here is only slightly different (Oculus Rift), so I was able to learn how to use it extremely quickly. I am responsible for directing the public while they use the technology and I have become a standby member of staff to call, should anything go wrong.
I have always been interested in how dance can work alongside VR to create a modern take on traditional dance performances, and update how they are viewed by audiences. The traditional structure of dance is gradually becoming outdated, and often is performed in end on and proscenium arch theater settings. As the modern world develops its digital culture, I believe traditional forms should also develop digitally too. Even Arts Council England has promoted organisations having a 'digital strategy', and have helped develop the 'Digital Culture Compass Charter' (Arts Council England, n.d.).
In VR, the role of the audience is challenged depending on the set up of the performance. From large scale immersive environment, to one-to-one performances that utilize physical touch. Agency is also a huge part of this, as the part of the audiences new role is to have a choice of where they would like to look during the performance. VR also gives participants abilities in a digital space beyond their own body.
‘Using a Virtual reality (VR) or alternate reality (AR) headset without headphones risks a total disconnect between what the user sees and the accompanying audio. If the user turns their head, the visuals will change, but the audio will be in a fixed position, no matter how many speakers you may be using’ (Schütze & Irwin-Schütze, 2018, p.22). This demonstrates the importance of how audio is used within VR. A dance piece is more forgiving, as it is not trying to create a new environment, it is simply something to watch which allows for more simple sound software to be used, rather than attempting to use binaural sound in order to wholly immerse a participant into a new world. The latter would most likely be used for more gaming purposes, rather than performance.
This project worked particularly well in the contemporary/lyrical dance style, as it allowed for more of a continuous flow particularly in the second test, where the dancer held the camera. Other styles are often more rigid- ballet has set movements which give little room for experimentation, hip-hop is often very fragmented, which could cause some odd movements in the camera as it jerks with the dancer, and tap focuses on the feet, not providing much excitement for the audience to view the top half of the body when they 'dance with' the performer through the headset. These are just 3 examples, of why I came to the conclusion of using contemporary.
I have existing knowledge of how to hide the tripods and other camera equipment in the video- I would use Photoshop to cover the object in a still image of the floor. This is one of the things to think about when filming, as the flooring has to be a consistent patter/ texture etc in order for the still image to blend over it well. As I was just focusing on experimentation during filming, rather than post production editing, this step was not necessary for me to take, particularly as it was only a prototype.
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I have always been interested in how dance can work alongside VR to create a modern take on traditional dance performances, and update how they are viewed by audiences. The traditional structure of dance is gradually becoming outdated, and often is performed in end on and proscenium arch theater settings. As the modern world develops its digital culture, I believe traditional forms should also develop digitally too. Even Arts Council England has promoted organisations having a 'digital strategy', and have helped develop the 'Digital Culture Compass Charter' (Arts Council England, n.d.).
In VR, the role of the audience is challenged depending on the set up of the performance. From large scale immersive environment, to one-to-one performances that utilize physical touch. Agency is also a huge part of this, as the part of the audiences new role is to have a choice of where they would like to look during the performance. VR also gives participants abilities in a digital space beyond their own body.
‘Using a Virtual reality (VR) or alternate reality (AR) headset without headphones risks a total disconnect between what the user sees and the accompanying audio. If the user turns their head, the visuals will change, but the audio will be in a fixed position, no matter how many speakers you may be using’ (Schütze & Irwin-Schütze, 2018, p.22). This demonstrates the importance of how audio is used within VR. A dance piece is more forgiving, as it is not trying to create a new environment, it is simply something to watch which allows for more simple sound software to be used, rather than attempting to use binaural sound in order to wholly immerse a participant into a new world. The latter would most likely be used for more gaming purposes, rather than performance.
This project worked particularly well in the contemporary/lyrical dance style, as it allowed for more of a continuous flow particularly in the second test, where the dancer held the camera. Other styles are often more rigid- ballet has set movements which give little room for experimentation, hip-hop is often very fragmented, which could cause some odd movements in the camera as it jerks with the dancer, and tap focuses on the feet, not providing much excitement for the audience to view the top half of the body when they 'dance with' the performer through the headset. These are just 3 examples, of why I came to the conclusion of using contemporary.
I have existing knowledge of how to hide the tripods and other camera equipment in the video- I would use Photoshop to cover the object in a still image of the floor. This is one of the things to think about when filming, as the flooring has to be a consistent patter/ texture etc in order for the still image to blend over it well. As I was just focusing on experimentation during filming, rather than post production editing, this step was not necessary for me to take, particularly as it was only a prototype.
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