Chinese VR Documentary Narrative Research(2015-2017)

The rapid development of digital technology gives rise to VR documentary,a new force in the field.Since the first Chinese VR documentary Kindergarten in the Mountain Village came out in 2015,VR documentaries are springing up in the country,with the number reaching about ten.VR(Virtual Reality)is a new visual art of shooting and experiencing,bringing the "unreachable" world before people.Its strong audiovisual effect and innovative interaction ensure the "immersive" effect,making audiences are personally on the scene.However,with opportunities,VR technology has also brought challenges to the development of documentary.It overturned the way of narration for traditional documentaries,and brought great impact on traditional shooting methods and film language.Focusing on the narrative characteristics of China's VR documentaries,this thesis aims to explore its narrative problems and puts forward targeted narrative strategy of practical meaning.In detail,with the representative and mature China's VR documentaries from 2015 to 2017 as its research objects,text analysis,comparative analysis,and interdisciplinary research as its research methods,classic narratology as its theoretical basis,and aesthetics and communication theories as its reference,the thesis made a thorough analysis on narrative content,perspective,time and space of VR documentaries.Besides,the thesis also compares the narration method of VR documentary and traditional documentary,with a view to provide references for the innovation of VR documentaries' narrative method.The study found that the rise of China's VR documentaries is due to the application and development of VR technology,as well as that VR characteristics conform to the tendency of documentary creation.First,in terms of narrative content,VR documentaries demonstrate spectacular and unique characteristics in the narrative theme and narrative elements.Second,it terms of the narrative perspective,the thesis summarized three types of focuses: zero-focused immersion,internal focus of the "body" into the heart,and the objective expression of external focus.The thesis also put forward the five factors affecting the focus.Third,in terms of narrative time,VR documentaries feature a linear,plate-like sequential structure,objective and subjective time clues,time lengths of extension and coincidence,and slow time speeds.Four,In terms of narrative space-time,VR documentaries demonstrate the “real-life” hyperreal virtual space and multimodality,the immersive virtual space of perception,the interactive virtual space combining behavior and psychology,and the staged virtual space such as scene scheduling.Finally,it discussed current problems in China's VR documentaries in terms of narration—weak presentation,weak storylines,weak guidance,weak interactivity etc.It also proposed targeted solutions,such as focusing on the richness of content expression and narrative plot.It will be easier to fins appropriate narration model and method for VR documentaries,and will provide suggestions and inspiration to form a new and mature narration system for VR documentaries in the future.