The Project

 

Figure 1


Source Courtesy of Avatar: Tree of Souls, James-Camerons-Avatar.fandom.com, 2009

This project is about reimagining the 2009 Avatar film by James Cameron to a virtual reality setup. I wanted to recreate the same feeling I experienced watching this film in a more immersive experience, where the audience can explore, interact, and experience the environment. More specifically, I was interested in the Pandora’s Forest, as the most intriguing and eye-catching environment. What if we could experience it in a virtual world? We could experience the big trees, the glowing plants, and the most iconic tree (The Tree of Souls). Figure 1 Imagine walking around the forest and interacting with nature that you’ve only seen in a film.

Pandora – The World of Avatar is a theme park at Walt Disney World, Florida, USA.1 But why do we want to create The Pandora in VR if there is already a theme park where you can physically experience the world? VR can offer some advantages compared to a physical space.

First, it is about the location – not everyone can travel. By creating the digital world in a virtual reality, it becomes accessible to everyone.

Second, the time spent travelling to the location – not everyone has the time to travel, especially from farther places of the world. With VR, the digital world can be accessed in a few moments.

Third, the theme park can’t be open 24/7, due to maintenance and the need for staff and security officers to keep the place in order. In VR, the place is available at any time of the day or night.

And lastly, it is about the financial aspect – the cost of the visit is increased by travel, hotel, and other expenses. In a VR setup, the only expense could be to purchase the experience (if applicable).

Virtual reality will not replace the experience at the theme park, but it will give access to a wider audience around the world and can give a memorable experience on-demand and without spending too much money and time.


The Narrative

The story is about a group of scientists residing in Pandora where they explore the forest and look for plants that will help them survive the alien planet. Pandora is an earth-like moon inhabited by different creatures. The air is different in this world, that’s why humans need to transfer their consciousness to an Avatar which is a clone of the native creatures of Pandora, called Na’vi.2 Na’vi are the human-like species, highly intelligent and natural hunters.

The adventure begins when the scientist leader assigns one researcher, the VR participant, the role of the “Prober”. They are the individuals who go to the forest to research and study nature. The Prober in this VR experience starts their adventure in the forest of Pandora at night and the goal is to study the plants that can only be seen at night. This allows the Prober to explore and experience the mystical nature of the forest and see the beauty of bioluminescent plants that are only visible at night.

The goal is to collect plants for research and food purposes. Through this experience, the VR participant will explore the forest and discover new plants and trees that were not in the film.


 The Inspiration

Figure 2

Source Image Courtesy to The Walking Dead; Saint and Sinners, Oculus, Meta, 2020

One of my inspirations is the Walking Dead, Saints and Sinners VR game. It’s a story that came from a graphic novel then adapted to a TV series which I also watched. The Walking Dead VR experience is not the same as the story in the series. It tells the story of the other survivors of the postapocalyptic world of “walkers”, the undead that walk among our characters.

This gave me an idea to create a different narrative and a different perspective, instead of copying the original narrative of the Avatar film. The idea is to keep the source material as is but revolving around a different character (the group of scientists) from a different angle, while adding new concepts like new species of interactive plants that fit the original narrative.


The Purpose

The purpose of this project is not to replace the traditional film storytelling but to give a different experience for the audience. As mentioned in Beyond Reality research by National Research Group, “Many fans are excited about the prospect of seeing settings they already know and love from a new perspective, and getting to experience those places as if they were a character themselves.” 4 With this in mind, my goal was to create another way of experiencing a fantasy place they might already know from the film.

After my conversation with my supervisor, Dr. Denitsa Petrova. She pointed out some good ideas that I can incorporate to this project and research topic that will help me to think about the direction and to provide an insight about how immersive experience of a fantasy world enhances the experience and how it impacts the benefits that fantasy and science fiction genre already have. 

Furthermore, my hope for this project is to be an informative research and design process that will help to improve the experience through immersive storytelling to future creative projects.


The Experience

What I want is for the audience to experience the virtual world of Avatar through visual effects and 3D models. This will give an immersive feeling of a big forest with glowing plants that can only be seen in a fantasy world. To enhance their telepresence, they will have guided information, selected interactivity with the environment, followed by sound effects and soundscapes.

“I recognized that when you move people through space while telling them a story, it creates the feeling of travelling on a journey and gives the experience meaning.” – John Bucher.3

The notion of turning the audience into participants of the story is powerful. They are learning about the story much more deeply and build a powerful connection with it. Virtual reality is a new way to experience a story after books, comics, and flat screen TV. The power of imagination and capability to form a story in a virtual world will be exciting for participants, artists, and designers.


The Market Demand

The future of virtual reality is relying on the early adopters who consume the content. 57% of people who tried VR are interested in experiencing more in the future.4 This means that there is an opportunity to tap into this market at this stage because consumers are looking for innovative ways to be engaged and experience. According to PwC, virtual and augmented reality could boost the global economy to £1.4 Trillion by 2030.5

We can see that there is a future in this new technology. In Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the government is looking for this technology to be integrated to their strategy.6 They are aiming for new technology adaption to support their vision and to increase their economy. The Dubai Metaverse Strategy will boost the technology to be mainstream by supporting developers, content creators and users to create and build more digital experience.

Virtual Reality has a great potential to change the way we do things in the future. With the above stated statistics and strategies, we can safely assume the demand for VR content is growing and the implementation of VR will go beyond what we currently know.








 List of Illustrations:

Figure 1: Avatar: Tree of Souls, James-Camerons-Avatar.fandom.com, 2009 https://james-camerons-avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Tree_of_Souls?file=Avatar_TWOW_ceremony_at_the_Tree_of_Souls.png  

Figure 2: The Walking Dead; Saint and Sinners, Oculus, Meta, 2020 https://www.oculus.com/experiences/quest/2897337400373711/

 

 

References:

  1. Disney World: Pandora – The World of Avatar (2017) Available at: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/destinations/animal-kingdom/pandora-world-of-avatar/ (Accessed: 02nd June 2023)
  2. Cameron, J. (2009) Avatar Wiki Available at: https://james-camerons-avatar.fandom.com/wiki/Na%27vi (Accessed: 02nd June 2023)
  3. Bucher, J. (2017) Storytelling for Virtual Reality, methods and principles for crafting immersive narratives. 1st edn. Taylor and Francis. 6th July.
  4. Navaratnam-Blair, F. Wagstaff, K. Miller, G. Cumberbatch, M. Rethore, C. (2022) Beyond Reality. National Research Group. April (Available at: https://assets.ctfassets.net/0o6s67aqvwnu/1zmWdgZfYLEEbdLS2DCtNi/0b573716bd56b0a4c09aede06b4325d9/Beyond_Reality_April_2022.pdf (Accessed: 04 June 2023)
  5. PwC (2020) Virtual and Augmented Reality could deliver a £1.4 Trillion boost to the global economy 2023. PwC Indonesia.  Available at:  https://pwc.to/2Jq5CRt (Accessed: 04 June 2023)
  6. U.A.E. (2023) Dubai Metaverse Strategy. 16 May.  Available at:  https://u.ae/en/about-the-uae/strategies-initiatives-and-awards/strategies-plans-and-visions/government-services-and-digital-transformation/dubai-metaverse-strategy (Accessed: 04 June 2023)

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