Among the many art forms that incite people’s imagination, VR experiences block out viewers’ visibility of the real-world, where viewers have no objects around them to hold onto; in other words, VR entirely immerses viewers in virtual audio and video simulations. VR images, either built using real-world scenes or animation, grant viewers 2 types of visual fields. One is the entire scene rendered from a camera’s viewpoint, and the other is the first-person perspective of the character in the setup. In recent years, there have been more 6-DoF¹ VR videos that feature interaction tasks where users can make real-time changes to the video context through turning their head, moving around, using handles, and making facial expressions. Any variables and changes made amid the viewing can influence how the viewers perceive the context.

Compared with movies and videos, VR has given birth to new viewing experiences as people let the virtual immersion take control of their senses, while the viewers also intervene in the plot development from time to time. In the context with multiple predetermined options, viewers build their own storyline, yet at the same time, all users share the same characters, scenes, and narratives in that particular project. That is, when viewers perceive the simulation through virtual character’s perspective, the digital experiences are shared by all users, yet unique to each individual in their own way. Also, only a handful of viewers have this sensory experience, compared to those watching traditional movies and videos.

In recent years, VR production and motion detection technology continue to advance, but challenges remain in laying a solid base for VR creation, exhibition, and review, due to the high entry threshold for production and displaying VR projects. Now, ET@T joins hands with Taipei Film Festival to curate Digital Common Sense: French VR Showcase, where 10 VR films, funded and produced by French companies, are selected. Within the display of one-and-a-half month, viewers are welcome to a vast array of film themes including sci-fi, horror, and romance as well as the poetic movies or the ones that highlight humanity. With the diverse approaches of storytelling in these works, there are 3 kinds of digital experiences to be explored: (1) following the camera to roam in the virtual world²; (2) intervening in the contexts with personal interactions³; (3) roleplay⁴.

Film festivals are a great stage for awards competition and showcases of VR projects, which is seen across the world, and Taiwan is no exception. Through working with Taipei Film Festival, ET@T looks forward to building an environment conducive to diverse VR creations and idea exchanges, so that VR can be introduced to more people as collective experiences.

1. Six degrees of freedom (6DoF) refers to the free body movement as forward/backward, up/down, left/right translation in three perpendicular axes, combined with changes in orientation through rotation about three perpendicular axes, often termed yaw, pitch, and roll.

2. Jailbirds: Bwa Kayiman (2021); The Hangman at Home (2020); Recoding Entropia (2020); Odyssey 1.4.9 (2019); I Saw the Future (2018).

3. Spheres (2018); Missing Pictures: Birds of Prey (2021).

4. Biolum (2021); Lady Sapiens, The Experience (2021); The Passengers: HER & HIM (2020); The Passengers: The Kid (2021).

👉 Digital Common Sense: French VR Showcase Timeline