Synthetic Vision in Virtual Reality Documentaries

Bibliographic Data

ID21720261
AuthorsJihoon Kim (0000-0002-9891-3515, Chung-Ang University, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume25
Issue3
Pages321-345
Publication date2021-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFilm-Philosophy (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1466-4615 • E-ISSN: 1466-4615
PublisherEdinburgh University Press (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.3366/film.2021.0178
OpenAlexW3210790251
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited24

Based on a nuanced understanding of immersion and sense of presence (SoP) as two key aesthetic effects that the application of virtual reality (VR) to cinema is believed to innovate, this paper develops the concept of synthetic vision as fundamental to understanding the visual experience of VR media, particularly VR documentaries. The concept contends that viewers’ experience in VR is based on two visions that seemingly contradict each other: first, a disembodied vision that transports them to a simulated world, and second, an embodied vision guaranteed by the freedom to control kinesthetic movement and direction of gaze. This serves to advance the idea that immersion and SoP are not unified but rather multifaceted concepts premised on a nuanced understanding of the varying relationships between the technological system of VR, its media content, and its user. For the concept of synthetic vision points to the paradoxical coexistence of viewers’ presence in the virtual world and their structural absence from the world that lays the groundwork for their immersive experience. By classifying three generic categories of contemporary VR documentaries (humanitarian and journalism documentaries, documentaries about nature, travel, and museum visits, and documentaries based on the reenactment of conscious or mnemonic realities), and by examining the aesthetic and ethical underpinnings VR brings to each of them, I argue that it hinges upon what kind of cinematic conventions and genres are remediated to determine the effective synthesis of the two visions. The varying effects of synthetic vision in the three subgenres of VR documentary stress that immersion and SoP have different political and ethical consequences of media witnessing. In the conclusion, I recapitulate multiple implications that the concept of synthetic vision has in regards to both the studies on VR and the recently flourishing investigation into cinematic VR artifacts

Aesthetics · Art · Embodied cognition · Gaze · Human–computer interaction · Movie theater · Sociology · Virtual reality · Vision · Visual arts · Cinema and Media Studies · Computer Science · Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts · Visual Attention and Saliency Detection · Artificial Intelligence

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