Can You Cut It? An Exploration of Editing in Cinematic Virtual Reality

The advent of affordable virtual reality (VR) displays and 360◦ video cameras has sparked an interest in bringing cinematic experiences from the screen and into VR. However, it remains uncertain whether traditional approaches to filmmaking can be directly applied to cinematic VR. Historically editing has provided filmmakers with a powerful tool for shaping stories and guiding the attention of audiences. However, will an immersed viewer, experiencing the story from inside the fictional world, find cuts disorienting? This paper details two studies exploring how cut frequency influences viewers’ sense of disorientation and their ability to follow the story, during exposure to fictional 360◦ films experienced using a head-mounted display. The results revealed no effects of increased cut frequency which leads us to conclude that editing need not pose a problem in relation to cinematic VR, as long as the participants’ attention is appropriately guided at the point of the cut.