One of the essential elements for creating the immersive Interactive story experience is the implementation of the the third person perspective. I have long maintained that the third person person perspective is just as crucial as the first and second perspectives. This is especially true in creating a passive or relatively non-interactive story experience. This perspective of course will be crucial for transporting the interactive experience beyond the first or second perspectives.
However, since the third perspective is not driven by an individual, how then is the center of focus to maintain itself on the crucial elements of the story? A potential solution, or at least the beginnings of a solution, has been provided by those crazy folks at Disney. Disney Mimics Human Camera Operators.
By mimicking the learning techniques of human camera operators, the Disney folks are proposing a methodology for programming automated cameras. The cameras not only focus where the excitement is but also follows the noisiest or “Most Interesting players”. I have not had an opportunity to study the paper. However, I do feel the mechanics between following a sports event and following an interactive story are all that different.
This is definitely an area of future discovery and exploration.
