Audience immersion is a storytelling technique which attempts to make the audience feel as though they are a part of the story or performance, a state which may be referred to as "transportation" into the narrative, permitting high levels of suspension of disbelief.[1] Audience immersion may be used to enhance learning or to create a more realistic experience.[2] Various methods may be employed to this end, including narrative perspective in writing or technical design in the performing arts.[3][4] An early example of audience immersion is from the 1846 travelogue Pictures from Italy by Charles Dickens, in which the narrator, speaking in the first person, addresses the reader using second-person pronouns, allowing the reader to "picture themselves with Dickens as he travels."[5]
In theatre, audio-visual technologies have been increasingly employed to increase immersion.[6] For example, the 2019 Cold War play Anna used binaural sound transmitted through headphones to make "each spectator culpable in the tale of spying, surveillance and secrets" in a voyeuristic manner.[6][7] Immersive theater is a style of theater that enforces audience immersion by physically placing the audience within the performance space, allowing interaction with performers, and breaking the fourth wall during the performance.[8] British theatre company Punchdrunk is well known for its immersive theatre productions, such as Sleep No More, an adaptation of Macbeth.[9]
Many audiovisual media formats including video games attempt to employ audience immersion.[1][2] In video gaming, audience immersion has been studied as a strategy for promoting behavior change for the implementation of public health objectives.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c Lu, Amy Shirong; Baranowski, Tom; Thompson, Debbe; Buday, Richard (June 2012). "Story Immersion of Videogames for Youth Health Promotion: A Review of Literature". Games for Health Journal. 1 (3): 199–204. doi:10.1089/g4h.2011.0012. ISSN 2161-783X. PMC 3833363. PMID 24416639.
- ^ a b Lu, Lilly (2013). "3D Virtual Worlds as Art Media and Exhibition Arenas: Students' Responses and Challenges in Contemporary Art Education". Studies in Art Education. 54 (3): 232–245. doi:10.1080/00393541.2013.11518896. ISSN 0039-3541. JSTOR 24467862. S2CID 150559818.
- ^ Freitag, Florian; Molter, Céline; Mücke, Laura Katharina; Rapp, Helena; Schlarb, Damien B.; Sommerlad, Elisabeth; Spahr, Clemens; Zerhoch, Dominic (2020-12-11). "Immersivity: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Spaces of Immersion". Ambiances. Environnement Sensible, Architecture et Espace Urbain. doi:10.4000/ambiances.3233. ISSN 2266-839X.
- ^ Shearing, David Richard (April 2015). Audience Immersion and the Experience of Scenography (PDF) (PhD thesis). The University of Leeds School of Performance and Cultural Industries., p2.
- ^ Rutledge, Alison (2015). "Travelling Narrator, Travelling Characters: Developments in Narration and Characterization in the Novels of Dickens". Dickens Studies Annual. 46: 59. doi:10.7756/dsa.046.003/51-70. ISSN 0084-9812. JSTOR 44372247.
- ^ a b Suine, Emily (2021-03-17). "How sound design is reinventing the way we experience theatre". Happy Mag. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
- ^ Dilek, Mert (2019-05-26). "Ella Hickson's "ANNA" at The National Theatre". The Theatre Times. Retrieved 2021-09-15.
- ^ Bouko, Catherine (May 2014). "Interactivity and Immersion in a media-based performance". Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies. 11 (1).
- ^ Prudhon, Deborah (2018-07-01). "Punchdrunk's Immersive Theatre: From the End to the Edge". Sillages Critiques (24). doi:10.4000/sillagescritiques.6341. ISSN 1272-3819.