“Beckett in VR: Exploring Narrative Using Free Viewpoint Video” by O’Dwyer, Amplianitis, Johnson, Bates, Pagés, et al. …
Conference:
Type:
Entry Number: 02
Title:
- Beckett in VR: Exploring Narrative Using Free Viewpoint Video
Presenter(s)/Author(s):
Abstract:
This poster describes a reinterpretation of Samuel Beckett’s theatrical text Play for virtual reality (VR). It is an aesthetic reflection on practice that follows up a technical project description submitted to ISMAR 2017 [O’Dwyer et al. 2017]. Actors are captured in a green screen environment using free-viewpoint video (FVV) techniques, and the scene is built in a game engine, complete with binaural spatial audio and six degrees of freedom of movement. The project explores how ludic qualities in the original text help elicit the conversational and interactive specificities of the digital medium. The work affirms the potential for interactive narrative in VR, opens new experiences of the text, and highlights the reorganization of the author–audience dynamic.
References:
- Samuel Beckett. 2012. The complete dramatic works of Samuel Beckett. Faber & Faber.
- N. Katherine Hayles. 2007. Hyper and deep attention: The generational divide in cognitive modes. Profession 2007, 1 (2007), 187–199.
- Nicholas Johnson. 2013. A Spectrum of Fidelity, an Ethic of Impossibility: Directing Beckett. The Plays of Samuel Beckett (2013), 152–164.
- Néill O’Dwyer, Nicholas Johnson, Enda Bates, Rafael Pagés, Jan Ondřej, Konstantinos Amplianitis, David Monaghan, and Aljoša Smolić. 2017. Virtual Play in FreeViewpoint Video: Reinterpreting Samuel Beckett for Virtual Reality. In Mixed and Augmented Reality (ISMAR-Adjunct), 2017 IEEE International Symposium on. IEEE, 262–267.
- R Pagés, K Amplianitis, D Monaghan, J Ondřej, and A Smolić. 2018. Affordable content creation for free-viewpoint video and VR/AR applications. Journal of Visual Communication and Image Representation 53 (2018), 192–201.
