A person trying out the “Tree” virtual reality experience by the New Reality Company. Credit: James Orlando
Virtual reality experiences can provide an uncanny sense of immersion that tricks participants’ brains into believing they are walking on that narrow beam high above a city or are being chased by a monster through dark halls. The New Reality Company wants to push the boundaries of virtual reality by adding real-world props and additional sensory stimuli based on touch and smell–clever steps that can strengthen the power of immersion.
Most virtual reality experiences begin with putting on the VR headset and end with taking off the headset when it’s all done. The New Reality Company extends the immersive qualities and emotional impact of virtual reality storytelling by having participants literally step inside real world settings that resemble a cross between an interactive art installation and a minimalist stage production. Having a physical space that resembles the virtual world prepares people mentally for the storytelling journey before plunging them into virtual reality. That space also provides a gentler exit from the virtual world beyond just yanking off the VR headset and headphones.
“We find that when people take off that headset they’re still very much in that world,” says Winslow Porter, co-founder of New Reality Company. “It’s like when you wake someone up from a dream and it’s only after a few minutes that they can acclimate themselves back to reality.”
The 1999 film “The Matrix” imagines a future where most humans live blissfully unaware that their minds have been plugged directly into a virtual world, called the Matrix, that seems practically indistinguishable from the real physical world. Awakening from that virtual reality and becoming conscious of the real world is portrayed as a traumatic experience for many who have never known life outside the Matrix.
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At the end, the real physical space of the darkened room allowed participants to collect their thoughts after having experienced the claustrophobic story of “Giant.” It’s similar to how some audience members will continue sitting through the film credits in the darkness of a movie theater after a particularly moving experience.
“So you can feel those bombs and you can also see objects falling around you,” Zec explains. “And then when you take off the headset you’re still in that dark room; you have time to decompress and to leave that space whenever you want to leave the installation.”
Standing Tall in the Rainforest
During the summer of 2017, the New Reality Company became designers-in-residence at the A/D/O design space in the Greenpoint neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. They converted one corner of a large, sprawling warehouse-style room into an exhibit for their second virtual reality experience, called “Tree,” by adding a backdrop of plants and foliage to create a jungle-style environment. Gabrielle Brown, an employee of New Reality Company, stood by with a variety of sensory aids on the day that I arrive to experience “Tree.”
Before starting the “Tree” experience, Brown gives me a small brown seed from a Kapok tree so that I can plant the seed in some soil. “You plant it because the piece speaks to nature and climate change, so we wanted to have something physical and not just technology talking about nature,” Zec says.
When I finally put on my VR headset and take hold of two controllers in each hand, I see that my viewpoint has transformed into that of the seed as it lay tucked away beneath the soil. Soon I have become a growing seedling pushing its way upward through the soil. Earthy smells drift past my nose as my viewpoint rises and the ground beneath me seemed to shake. I am living the growth cycle of a tree in fast-forward.
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Source: Discover