zx1900@nyu.edu
xuanzhongao.com
MultiSensory VR
WEEK 4
Speical Place:
Video Link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qE-YNFK8_OOJgvVLbfBVHCg0WaouLknU/view?usp=sharing
Gloomy Eyes Response:
What struck me first about Gloomy Eyes was how little it relies on narration compared to many other VR works. In most VR films, the voiceover often dominates the storytelling, sometimes even guiding every emotional beat. Here, however, the images themselves do most of the heavy lifting—about seventy percent of the narrative is communicated visually. The narrator fills in details and adds atmosphere, but the story is still intelligible even if one doesn’t fully follow the spoken words. This choice makes the viewing experience feel more autonomous, as though the world is unfolding directly in front of you rather than being explained.
I was also fascinated by how the film borrows from traditional cinematic language while reinterpreting it for VR. Gloomy Eyes makes clever use of distance. When characters appear closer to the viewer’s eyes (which essentially function as the camera), the framing feels like a medium shot or a medium close-up. Since I can lean in and inspect details, the effect is similar to a zoom or close-up in conventional cinema. When characters are farther away, the perspective shifts toward a wide shot, inviting me to take in both the figures and their environment. This framing naturally suggests when to move and when to remain still.
Finally, the 360-degree staging adds a new dimension to cinematic movement. Sometimes, transitions require my gaze to follow an arc across space—for example, from Gloomy’s burial to Nina grieving by the cliff. That sweeping shift feels like watching film frames unspool through a projector—an embodied motion unique to VR cinema.