zx1900@nyu.edu
xuanzhongao.com
MultiSensory VR
WEEK 3
Using Imagery to Tell Story
Story Borad:
Final Video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k3n0ETYhIhnzctu7IYfwDN4pcPRSZkAo/view?usp=sharing
Notes on Blindness Response:
Attempting to recreate the experience of blindness through a medium that is usually dominated by visual immersion feels like a bold experiment. At first, I wasn’t sure how it could work, but I quickly realized that the creators were not trying to replace sight with substitutes; instead, they were exploring how sound can shape a world of its own. For someone without vision, the surface of things may be hidden, yet the textures of reality—its weight, its immediacy—can sometimes feel even more real.
What struck me most was how sound in the VR experience could activate other sensations: the rush of wind, the spatial orientation that emerges when one follows echoes, the way auditory cues create depth and distance. These interactions felt compelling, though some visual elements, such as the footprints that marked walking paths, came across as slightly artificial and less convincing.
The most moving aspect was the treatment of sound as both presence and absence. The narration, adapted from the diary of John Hull, conveys how for someone who has lost sight, every object exists through the sounds it produces—the cry of a baby, the rustle of leaves, the hum of a street. When sound is absent, there is no shape, no substance, only emptiness. Experiencing this in VR made me feel immersed in a sensory world that was fragile yet deeply profound, one where sound alone breathes life into reality.