In this article, Wachtel gives a distinct aspect to view the cave painting, that the cave arts are very similar to the cinematic experiences since the the creators of the cave arts also design their works based on the dimension of space and time rather than a resting image. We will discuss how they create the sense of space and time separately for cave paintings and films.

For the sense of time, similarly, they both create moving images to tell a sequence of story. Thus they create different experiments when viewing them at different times. However, there are differences about how they let the images move. The films, as we all know, create moving images by playing sequential images continuously. And the cave paintings create the sense of time by changing the position of the observers and the light positions. With the help of the shape of the cave, people can see the different poses of the same character at different positions and with different light circumstances. Another similarity is that they use the same art techniques, cut and dissolve. By using the technique, the cave painting can show different images with the same paintings.

About the sense of space, they both try to create an imagined space by using superimposition. The cave painting use this technique to show the depth of the space, like depicting the animals behind the grass. And films use this technique to create 3d effect with 2d images. Also, they use the depiction of motions and movements to increase the sense of space. But the cave painting also use the help of the blurry light and the different shape of the cave to achieve a better demonstration of space. Films use the blur effect in another way by blurring the movement and motion of an individual frame.

I would divide all the experiences into three categories at the beginning. Experiences in the same category have a lot in common, however they may also differ in some other ways.

The first category contains paintings and sculptures. As the very early artworks of the human history, paintings and sculptures may not be the best to create illusion and immersion, but they are the first artworks with illusion and immersion. They are born with an avoidable psychological distance, because for thousands of years, they are created for the people to observe and admire from a distance. And even if we can hold a painting in the hands or touch the sculptures, it does not significantly change the experience. Thus, it is very difficult for them to create immersion. On the contrary, observer can always has a clear mind without being disturbed by the illusion to have a distinct critical reflection. Even if there is ways, such as let the observer be surrounded by paintings and sculptures to increase the immersion, it is still very complicated and limited.

The second category contains plays, movies, televisions. Movies and televisions are almost the same, they can both be seen as the continuous moving paintings. Thus the psychological distance still remains. However, the movies and televisions have actors and story which can attract people into illusion worlds more easily. So there is actually a lot of space for people’s imagination and immersion. Plays can be seen as moving sculptures similarly, even if they are real people, so it also has a natural psychological distance. Similarly, it also decrease the distance a little by the performance of actors and the illusion created by the story. However, a significant difference is that the plays create a concept of real stage, a clear place where the people will imagine themselves to be to get the maximum immersion. So if the people can play a role in the play, the psychological distance can be removed. And actually there are this kinds of plays in the world now. As for the critical reflection, they are very similar to the paintings and sculptures. But observer has to reflect to it later since they cannot be stopped, which may make the reflection inaccurate or not free enough.

The third category contains games and VR. Unlike the nature of being observed varied by above experiences, games and VR have the nature of interaction. And every time people interacts with something, even the elements in games, they must have 0 psychological distance to that thing. So when people are playing games or sing VR, they are immersed into illusion worlds at most of the time Moreover, games’ strength to tell a good story or create an impressive characters make the immersion solid and deep. However, interaction will also affect people’s reflection process, because we cannot do both things well at the same time, so it is hard to form a reflection during the experiences. VR, which creates a virtual space itself, can even do better than the games. With VR devices, people can see that the illusion is surrounding themselves, thus there is no psychological distance in VR experiences. But due to some technical issues, VR is not superior a lot to the games when creating the immersion. 

I used Oculus2 as my headset, I have tried different types of games during the 2 hours experience. I have used VR and even developed on VR before, so I will also answer the questions based on my previous experience. 

I want to share my opinion on some realistic FPS games, such as Half Life: Alyx and other similar games. When I first entering these most realistic fantasy worlds in VR, I am really impressed by the fantastic immersion. All the digital models composes a space extremely similar to the real world. However, it does not take me long to discover this kind of immersion will easily break when the player (or the character) tries to move in the virtual space. And this problem remains a problem to be solved in my previous project. Because of the limited space, the player cannot explore the whole space by walking or moving in the real space. So it is necessary for the games to let players move by pushing sticks. Half Life: Alyx let the character teleport for a short distance, and other FPS games let the character move at a constant speed without any camera shake. Both of these methods fail to continue the immersion when the player enters the space, since none of them can simulate human’s sight while moving. 

Another problem is that in a VR game tries to depict a real world, it cannot be avoided that player has an impulse to get close to the models and try to interact with them. But due to some technical and design factors, the player cannot see character’s body parts like we do in the real world. So it is hard for the player to locate the character’s hands and torso, and measure the distance between hands and the objects. Moreover, when the player moves his/her head within a slight distance, the virtual camera may not react to the move accurately. Thus, when player tries to observe an object at a very close distance, he/she may find that the camera does not move as intended. In conclusion, it is unpleasant when it comes to the close interaction with the game objects.

As for the art aspect I can see in my email and then you need a full day of work or , since they are trying to create an original world based on the real world in VR, so it is not overwhelmed with original art design elements. For example, Half Life: Alyx creates a ruined modern crowded city. But it is very common to create an imaginary world based on the real world in sci-fi media, such as novels, films and games. So I think the imaginary world itself is an artwork as an expression of the future. If I want to improve it as an artwork, I will try to decrease the details of the models in the world. This inspiration comes from the games Super Hot and Beat Saber, both of them use geometry low-poly shapes or models with pure colors to compose the virtual world. This design allows the player recognize the key elements of an object faster and spend less time to observe the object. Despite I will not expect a world of realism to be composed of models with simple shapes and pure colors, but the decrease of details will make the world clearer and simpler to the player. Also, I think it is necessary to keep a distance between the observers and the objects, this will make the observers ignore the details being deleted, and imply the world should be observed and recognized a whole instead of separate parts to be interacted. Moreover, when observing a space with large scale and from a long distance, it is hard for the observer to get disturbed by the unnatural feeling when moving in the virtual world.