Frames to Zones: Applying Mise-en-Scène Techniques in Cinematic Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) is becoming increasingly commonplace and consumers, among other things, use the technology to access cinematic VR experiences. However, cinematic VR limits filmmakers' ability to effectively guide the audience's attention. This paper describes a between-groups study (n=60) exploring the use of a zone-division system to incorporate mise-en-scène in VR to guide attention. Participants were exposed to a cinematic VR experience including five points of interest (POIs). Half of the participants experienced a version containing visual cues arranged in the scene based on the zone-division system and the other half experienced no such guidance. The effectiveness of the intervention was assessed by measuring the angle between users' head orientation and the relevant POIs. Additionally, a questionnaire was used to determine whether the participants recalled the POIs. The results showed that participants exposed to additional visual cues orientated themselves significantly closer to the POIs than those in the other condition. However the questionnaire showed no significant differences between conditions.