The Taxonomy of Experience: Part 2

A universal language for categorizing IRL and XR experiences.

Narrative & Visual POV and How They Work Together

Narrative point of view describes the point of view a story is being told from. Visual point of view describes the point of view a story is being seen from. In media where multiple senses are engaged, there are different ways that these points of view can combine.

This post builds off of narrative and visual points of view—described in the previous post. It will introduce the concepts of “embodied” and “disembodied” experiences to describe how narrative and visual points of view may or may not work together in extended reality (XR) experiences.

Embodied

When narrative and visual points of view match, it creates an embodied experience. It is not enough for narrative and visual points of view to both be first person, they would have to be of the same “first person.”

A great example of this is the VR experience Notes on Blindness. It is based on author John Hull’s sensory and psychological experience of blindness. Hull’s audio diary provides the backbone of the experience: he narrates his experience of going blind, describing what he is seeing in real time. This is first person narrative POV.

In the VR experience, simultaneous with the audio narration, the viewer sees a 3D-animation approximation of what John Hull would have been seeing. This gives the experience a first-person visual point of view.

In this experience, the visuals and narration go together to make you feel like you are John Hull. The viewer witnesses firsthand what is being described in the first person. Therefore, the viewer can conclude that they are meant to be John Hull. Such an experience, in which there is first person narrative and first person visuals that “match,” is an example of embodied first-person narrative (e1N).

Disembodied

When narrative and visual points of view don’t match, it creates a disembodied experience.

An example of this is 52 Places To Go: Iceland, a 360 travel experience produced by the New York Times. In 52 Places To Go: Iceland, the viewer is traveling with Jada Yuan, a 52 Places Traveler, and Lucas Peterson, Frugal Traveler.

The main narration for the 360 piece is Jada’s first-person narration. This gives the experience a first person narrative POV, much like Notes on Blindness. However, in contrast to Notes on Blindness, in 52 Places To Go: Iceland the viewer sees the narrator Jada, and not her visual point of view. Because the viewer is seeing Jada, the viewer can conclude that the viewer is not meant to be Jada. Such an experience, in which the first person narrative and first-person visuals do not match, is a disembodied first-person narrative (d1N).

What This All Means

While both 52 Places To Go: Iceland and Notes on Blindness have first-person narrative plus first-person visuals, they clearly provide different types of experiences; in one, you are the “main character,” in another, you are not.

Embodied experiences can also come in different “persons” (e.g., 3rd person), as can disembodied (e.g., 1st/3rd). And each of these types of experiences makes the viewer-participant feel differently.

An embodied experience will immerse the viewer in the narrative and a disembodied experience will detach the audience from the moment at hand. An embodied experience will encourage empathy and a disembodied experience will shut down the participant’s emotional response.

For filmmakers and experience designers, it’s important to think about the desired audience reaction and then consider whether and how the taxonomic classification of the proposed experience serves that intention.

Discussion of this taxonomy continues in Part 3,

which delineates the other sensory points of view.

The author of this post is also the author of the taxonomy and can be reached with comments, questions or consulting requests on social media at @eveweston across platforms.