Digital Storytelling

As human beings, we are always looking to improve something and move it forward, storytelling is no exception. However, have we in fact lost what it is to share stories? it seems as though modern cinema and theatre have neglected audience participation in a way that immerses them deeper into the narrative.

Oral Storytelling, an ancient and intimate tradition, is a part of many different cultures across the world's timeline. It has been used to teach, pass down and preserve history as well as entertain. Through the telling of the story, the audience is taken on a shared journey that connects them deeply, both with the narrative, and each other. The tale is often moulded according to the needs of the audience and/or the environment of the telling. Due to the flexibility of oral storytelling, listeners are able to feel as though they themselves have ownership of the journey offering empowerment and a heightened experience. You can see this today when you share and re-experience inside jokes and stories that you have with your friends, strengthening bonds and reaffirming relationships (Hackney, 2018).

‘magic - the indefinable spark that binds speaker and listeners in a shared journey through imagination’. - J Harrett (2008)

Therefore it is no surprise that companies like Gazooky Studios are experimenting to find ways we can use digital storytelling to allow audiences to put themselves back into the story. Interactive movies, videogames and experiences give the player and the viewer the opportunity to shape the story their own way and claim the experience as their own. An interactive experience can become more relevant to a consumer's own interests and it moves them from being passive, to actively engaging(Digital Signage Today, 2016), both emotionally and intellectually.

Furthermore, in a world where our audiences know exactly where they need to go to get cheaper - if not free - alternatives for their entertainment, such as free streaming sites, it's important that the arts industry adapt and create alternative experiences that can't be pirated, and can offer something different and unique. "If it is interactive, it will engage more," (Digital Signage Today,2016) says Frederik De Wachter, co-founder of DOOHapps, he goes on to say that another benefit to interactive media, is it allows you to easily measure critical data that can be used to improve the users' experience and therefore attract even more of an audience.

"We have to realize as businesses that people, all of them, are walking around with a smartphone in their pocket...to them its become the most important screen in the world, so the step to use that ingredient to allow interactions with the display is just a very small step." - Frederik De Wachter, (Digital Signage Today, 2016)

F. De Wachter also believes that it is important to make these interactive experiences easy to use with very simple user interfaces, and accessible for anyone, no matter their age and technical experience. "The interaction must be designed in such a way that it does not need to be explained, and the number of technological barriers must be really, really limited."

however digital storytelling is limited by the technology that is currently readily available. (Jayraj,2020)

To begin with, it is not guaranteed that audience members will have access to the technology needed to view and experience the event. The cost of VR headsets are still extremely high and not everyone will have a smartphone. Some companies have tried to address this, Guardian VR offers a cheaper cardboard alternative to the VR headset, however, it can only be used as a viewing tool, not to interact with. Furthermore, a lot of people get motion sickness after using a headset for some time, a way around this could be the ability to take frequent breaks, however, this can break the viewers' immersion into the narrative. Another is to assign a designated space for the VR headset user to move around in the real world whilst they move in the virtual world so they don’t feel so disconnected from their body. Most VR and AR graphics are comparatively worse when looking at other existing game consoles and video media. On top of that VR and AR still can't offer the same freedom that sitting around a fire and sharing stories does, there still need to be rules and restraints in place. It is incredibly time-consuming and expensive for developers to try and programme in every single possible way a player might interact with something, therefore it is unlikely many do/will. Never the less, immersive technology is exactly the kind of revolutionary tech that we need to move us forward, not just in the entertainment industry, but in sectors such as health care and law enforcement too. it's the next step to bringing us back together.

In health care, AR can help doctors visualise surgeries, both as a teaching tool and in the operating room (Willis, 2018). This technology also offers new ways for people to interact with the real world. Writer and technical evangelist, Robert Scoble, talks about how Immersive technology will positively change the way his son, who is autistic, "communicates, read social cues...and do other tasks." (Scoble, 2019).

Meow Wolf, an arts collective based in the US, are currently using immersive tech to push artistic boundaries and experiment ways in which audiences can be transported to fantastic realms of story and exploration. They create interactive and immersive experiences from a number of different media, such as sculpture, performance, audio engineering, video editing, cross reality (VR, MR, AR) and many others. Their first permanent installation was launched in 2016 and is still open today, welcoming all ages. It is called 'House of Eternal Return' and is a playground for guests to explore a "multidimensional mystery house with secret passageways, portals to magical worlds and an expansive narrative amidst surreal, maximalist, and mesmerizing art exhibits." (Meow Wolf, 2020). Meow Wolf are using immersive technology to bring storytelling into the future and using creativity to have an impact on their community by supporting artists and opening the minds of the public; introducing them to new possibilities and exercising their non-linear thinking. With companies like Meow Wolf, I believe we can find our way back to how we use to share stories.

Meow Wolf have given me a lot of inspiration for my own project ideas. From their website I have learnt that they build these full-scale sets where their audience can spend an entire day exploring and creating their own narratives, solving mysteries and looking for 'treasures'. They emphasise that what they do is more than just for entertainment purposes, but to stimulate and inspire minds. They do this using a bunch of different immersive tech and media, but the ones that stand out to me are spatial audio, projection mapping and augmented reality.

Digital Signage Today (2016). 'Making the Customer Experience Interactive', Digital Signage Today [online]. <https://www.digitalsignagetoday.com/blogs/making-the-customer-experience-interactive/?printable=true> [Accessed 30th October 2020].

Hackney, A. (2018). The Oral Tradition of Storytelling: Curing the Contemporary Culture Crisis. [online] Austin Hackney. Available at: <https://austinhackney.co.uk/2018/02/21/the-oral-tradition-of-storytelling-curing-the-contemporay-culture-crisis/ >[Accessed 06 January 2021].

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Harrett, J (2008). ‘What’s in a Story?: Telling tales and written words: the same or different’, Presentation at The Atrium, Cardiff: George Ewart Evans Centre for Storytelling, University of Glamorgan

Jayraj (2020) 'The Limitations of Virtual Reality'. [online] appypie. Available at: <https://www.appypie.com/virtual-reality-limitations> [Accessed 30th October 2020]

Meow Wolf (2020) 'About'. [online] Meow Wolf. Available at: <https://meowwolf.com/about> [Accessed 15th December 2020]

Moon, J (2020). 'Introduction to the resource on oral storytellingOral StorytellingA Resource Pack for Use in Media Programmes in Secondary Schools and Higher Education', Centre for Excellence in Media Practice, Bournemouth University

Scoble, R. (2019). One call to change my life, and another to redefine Spatial Computing. [online] Scobleizer. Available at: <https://scobleizer.blog/2019/03/04/one-call-to-change-my-life-and-another-to-redefine-spatial-computing/ > [Accessed 04 January 2021].

Willis, K. (2018). Augmented reality system lets doctors see under patients' skin without the scalpel. [online] University o f Alberta. Available at: <https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/01/180124172408.htm> [Accessed 04 January 2021]