Immersive 360° video lets viewers choose which characters to follow

The IDNA - Spatial Storytelling project from Switzerland has produced a 360-degree video narrative for handheld devices that reveals different elements of the story depending on the way viewers choose to angle their tablet.

The in-built accelerometers in tablets and smartphones offer increasingly dazzling ways for users to interact with multimedia content. We recently wrote about Device6, a playable novel that relies on manipulation of the iPad to give a sense of space. Now a project from Switzerland called IDNA – Spatial Storytelling has produced a 360-degree video narrative for handheld devices that reveals different elements of the story depending on the way viewers choose to angle their tablet.

The animated film has been designed to let viewers treat their tablet as a window into the action, that they can control. Rather than having the movie’s director choose how the action is framed, viewers can tilt, rotate and spin the tablet around in space in order to explore an entire 360-degree world by themselves while the narrative continues. The dystopian government conspiracy tale that forms IDNA — the first prototype version of the technology, created by Switzerland-based apelab — is made up of different threads and sub-plots, and users decide which ones they follow by focusing their attention on particular characters or background action. IDNA uses stereo audio to give viewers — especially those using headphones — a more immersive experience that allows them to respond to directional cues such as sounds coming from the left or right to let them know that action is happening elsewhere. The following video explains more about the project:

The technology behind IDNA could help usher in a new artform — somewhere between film and video games. How else can tablets offer a window into new digital spaces?

Spotted by Murtaza Patel, written by Springwise