A forward look into how the principles of immersion can help change the way we interact with media.
What does immersion even mean?
Is it a feeling of interconnectedness? The removal of boundaries? A blur between states (eg. phygital)?
It is rather, a spectrum of how connected an individual is with a separate medium.
Passive-interaction-media (movies, shows etc.) can be immersive if you connect to an aspect of it (the storyline, the soundtrack, the actors etc.). Arguably, actively-interactive-media has an easier time being immersive, because there are more conscious processes at play here.
Basically, it’s easier to connect with a character you are controlling on a screen, than it is to connect with a character you have no direct interaction with. So we can deduce that, to be immersive, there needs to be a blur between the biological actualities of your sense of self and a separate medium that you connect with, physically or psychologically. The closer we get to that state, the closer we get to full immersion.
Disney+ Hotstar did something super interesting, by experimenting with the interactivity of traditionally passive media, through an AR experience that played on your mobile in tangent to the film on your television (titled: ‘Remembering’).Netflix had some pretty exciting experiments in this sphere too! With their ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch’, multiple choice movie experience + a few others. Lastly, let me not even start on how innovative & immersive Nintendo’s Wii was with its controllers (now the Nintendo Switch).
The fortunate thing is that interaction that inspires immersive is not technology or format exclusive. It is actually a creative decision.
Take S2 EP1 of the Netflix show titled ‘Abstract’, where Olafur Eliasson asks the viewer to turn off their lights and close their curtains in order to collaborate in a lighting experiment [with him] through their display. By asking the viewer to take an action that builds on the viewing experience, he created an interaction that serves to engage and increase the sense of immersion. So what was previously a passive-interaction medium, began to fluctuate between active and passive. This is an element of the future of media. Creative considerations that bring interactive traits to content. We have been and still are doing it, through new tech and existing formats (live-streaming, multi choice films, games, VR, 360 videos, AR, game shows etc).
Immersion is a Star Wars-esque quote, something like “you must forget yourself, to truly become one with the force”. Understanding the basics of what makes media immersive, can help us creatively expand on existing mediums and understand that interactivity on various levels is essential for the future of media + it plays nicely into my piece on loyalty ;).
Incrementally bringing immersion to a wider audience, will give opportunity for a more immersive & interactive future.