Towards the Essence of Cinematic VR: Embracing New Technologies to Define a Medium

Heim is concerned with the essence of Virtual Reality; the meaning behind the technology. These philosophical questions are not new. Heidegger, McLuhan and Heim are all influential in bringing together ideas about experience and technology that can be applied in a new way to immersive media. Coyne (1995) later brought the thinking together drawing on Heim’s idea that new realities and worlds would unfold within virtual reality. He urged us to take a Heideggerian approach that would value the technology in a new way, not bound or limited by previous constraints of what it is. As Heidegger explored the relationship with technology to be one that when experienced is able to freely develop to discover a true sense of meaning, McLuhan argued that the meaning can be found in the characteristics of the medium, not simply by the content (1964). This work is situated at the intersection between these philosophical approaches, media and technology to define a new genre of immersive media. It provides an introduction to the essence of immersive media, one where cinematic VR is no longer classed within film studies. Through an analysis of experiences that have been cited as defining the medium and pushing the boundaries of what is expected, new approaches are defined. Through a playful, experimentation approach, lessons in creating are documented to inform future forms of immersive experiences. This is no longer rooted in any one practice but, as Pimentel and Teixeira noted, merging all forms into VR, through simulation and stimulation, it’s the “emergence of a new holistic art experience of the mind” (1993:240).