Storytelling for Virtual Reality: Methods and Principles for Crafting Immersive Narratives

by John Bucher

Overview

Storytelling for Virtual Reality serves as a bridge between students of new media and professionals working between the emerging world of VR technology and the art form of classical storytelling. Rather than examining purely the technical, the text focuses on the narrative and how stories can best be structured, created, and then told in virtual immersive spaces. Author John Bucher examines the timeless principles of storytelling and how they are being applied, transformed, and transcended in Virtual Reality. Interviews, conversations, and case studies with both pioneers and innovators in VR storytelling are featured, including industry leaders at LucasFilm, 20th Century Fox, Oculus, Insomniac Games, and Google.

For more information about story, Virtual Reality, this book, and its author, please visit StorytellingforVR.com

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138629660
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	07/12/2017
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	346
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

John Bucher is an award-winning writer and narrative consultant based out of Los Angeles, California. He is a regular contributor to VirtualRealityPop.com, LA-Screenwriter.com, HBO.com, and MovieMaker Magazine. He co-hosts The Inside Out Story Podcast, The Westworld Watch Podcast, and currently teaches at the LA Film Studies Center, where he leads courses in Virtual Reality storytelling and filmmaking. A popular speaker, John has given talks on five continents regarding story, technology, and art. He is completing a PhD in mythology and depth psychology and is the author of several books including Master of the Cinematic Universe: The Secret Code For Writing in the New World of Media, Storytelling By the Numbers, and The Inside Out Story. He can be found on-line at his site, tellingabetterstory.com, and on social media @johnkbucher.

Table of Contents

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

FOREWORD

CHAPTER 1: A New Reality and How We Got Here

SPOTLIGHT ON DIRECTING: Storytelling in VR through Cinematic Directing

A Conversation with Jessica Brillhart, Principal Filmmaker for VR at Google

SPOTLIGHT ON CAMERAS: Storytelling in VR through the Lens

A Conversation with Paul Meyhoefer, VP JK Imaging/Kodak

CHAPTER 2: A Stone Bridge Covered in Microchips

SPOTLIGHT ON GAMING: Storytelling in VR through Video Games

A Conversation with Brian Allgeier, VR Game Designer, Insomniac Games

CHAPTER 3: Science and Technology behind Storytelling

SPOTLIGHT ON VR SCIENCE AND STORYTELLING: Storytelling Through Data and Neurology

A Conversation with Dr. Carolina Cruz-Neira, Director of the Emerging Analytics Center, the University of Arkansas, Little Rock

SPOTLIGHT ON STORY: VR Storytelling at the Oculus Story Studio

A Conversation with Jessica Shamash, Producer, and Pete Billington, Immersive Storyteller

CHAPTER 4: Storytelling Principles for Immersive Space

SPOTLIGHT ON IMMERSIVE THEATER: Storytelling through Immersion

A Conversation with Noah Nelson, Creator and Host of No Proscenium Podcast

CHAPTER 5: Designing an Immersive Narrative

SPOTLIGHT ON NEW FRONTIERS: A Master Storyteller

A Conversation with Chris Milk, Founder and CEO, Within

SPOTLIGHT ON ETHICS: Considerations for VR Storytelling

A Conversation with Steve Peters, Experience Designer, Host of StoryForward Podcast, and CCO of Mo Mimes Media

EXERCISES

CHAPTER 6: Characters in VR

SPOTLIGHT ON ACTING: Storytelling Through Drama in Immersive Experiences

A Conversation with Keight Leighn, Actress

EXERCISES

CHAPTER 7: Creating Narrative Structures

SPOTLIGHT ON VISUALIZATION: Cinematic Storytelling in VR

A Conversation with Chris Edwards, Founder, Chief Production Officer, and CEO, The Third Floor

SPOTLIGHT ON NARRATIVE: Fiction Versus Nonfiction Storytelling

A Conversation with Steve Peters, Experience Designer, Host of StoryForward Podcast, and CCO of Mo Mimes Media

EXERCISES

CHAPTER 8: Theory in Practice: Interviews and Case Studies

THE STORYTELLERS

INTERVIEW: Rob Bredow, Chief Technology Officer, LucasFilm

INTERVIEW: Tye Sheridan and Nikola Todorovic, Creators of Aether Inc.

CASE STUDY: Baobab VR Studios

INTERVIEW: Sarah Hill, CEO and Chief Storyteller, StoryUp

THE TECHNOLOGISTS AND PRODUCERS

INTERVIEW: Jonathan Krusell, Google Daydream Producer

INTERVIEW: Robyn Tong Gray and Andrew Goldstein, Founders, Otherworld Interactive

CASE STUDY: Light Sail VR

INTERVIEW: Tai Crosby, Founder and CEO, SilVR Thread

INTERVIEW: Adam Orth, Creative Director, Three One Zero

THE ARTISTS

INTERVIEW: Angela Haddad, VR Artist and Producer

INTERVIEW: Annie Lesser, Immersive Theater Director

CASE STUDY: Jaunt Studios and the Invisible VR series

INTERVIEW: Mark Cordell Holmes, Art Director, Pixar

THE VISIONARIES

INTERVIEW: Larry Rosenthal, VR Pioneer and Producer

INTERVIEW: Paul Debevec, Senior Staff Engineer, Google VR

CASE STUDY: Lucy VR series

INTERVIEW: Brian Rose, Google VR Team, Community and Outreach

INTERVIEW: Ted Schilowitz, Futurist, 20^th Century Fox Studios

GLOSSARY

INDEX

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Editorial Reviews

"Bucher has positioned his work as a mid-level survey of topics with the potential to revolutionize fiction and non-fiction storytelling. He surveys the complexities of POV where camera placement is ubiquitous, and where audiences are fully immersed and are, in effect, the directors of their own narrative journeys."

—Kim Walker, Ph.D., Full Professor of Digital Film and Media Arts, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

"A remarkable synthesis of cutting-edge VR practice and storytelling interwoven with ancient myth and philosophy for context and clarity, interviews crucial and illuminating, and finally, a pivotal, needed framework for future VR storytelling. Master teacher John Bucher gently guides the writer into unpacking her own rich and seamless VR script."

—Rebecca Ver Straten-McSparran, Director, LA Film Studies Center

"It’s the kind of book that will inspire you to consider what might be possible in VR storytelling and the kind of mental unpacking and re-thinking that’s required to transport our storytelling impulses into an entirely different realm of world building. (...) [The book] delivers a great combination of accessibly written academic-style theory and conversational insights which help to make the book more of a page turner than it might otherwise be. (...) this is an excellent and inspiring read for anyone looking to learn more about the emerging present and tantalising future of this new art form."

- Jonny Elwyn

From the Publisher