Spatial Relationships in 360-Degree Space: Proximity, Body Orientation and the Gaze

PubDate: April 2021

Teams: Curtin University

Writers: Kath Dooley

PDF: Spatial Relationships in 360-Degree Space: Proximity, Body Orientation and the Gaze

Abstract

This chapter explores the role of character/viewer proximity within the 3DoF 360-degree Cinematic Virtual Reality (CVR) environment to highlight the impact of spatial relationships, body direction and character gaze on viewer experience and empathy. The author looks to the study of proxemics as theorised by anthropologist Edward Hall (A system for notation of proxemic behavior. American Anthropologist, 65, 1003–1026, 1963, The hidden dimension (Vol. 609). Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1966) and to Adam Kendon’s work on the organisation of human behaviour in face-to-face interaction (Conducting interaction: Patterns of behavior in focused encounters. C. U. Press, 1990) as frameworks through which to reconsider screen grammar in the context of CVR storytelling. To illustrate these theories, the tactical use of space in two recent live-action CVR works is analysed, in the documentary Traveling While Black (director Roger Ross Williams, USA, 2019) and in the six-part series Invisible (producer Doug Liman, USA, 2016).