Interactivity 

While the viewer is a non-speaking guest, there are many opportunities for viewer agency to inspect books, photos, letters, and other character-offered objects that both enhance the dramatic experience and provide additional backstory in a cinematic “Show, don’t Tell” fashion. The video’s immersive visual and aural cues function as virtual haptics, leading the viewer’s brain into imagining them as “real” experiences and creating memories around them.

Scene 1 (7 pm). Guests direct some of their dialogue about Gatsby's shady past to the viewer. The viewer may inspect the store receipt and book with uncut pages.

Scene 2 (8 pm). The conductor taps and points his baton directly at the viewer and says: “This song is for you” before the orchestra begins playing a fox trot. If wearing an MR headset/glasses, the viewer sees a digital hand give the conductor a thumbs-up or another acknowledgement. The viewer may read Gatsby’s boyhood inscription in the Hopalong Cassidy book, and inspect Gatsby’s war medal and Oxford University photo.

Scene 3 (10 pm). A waiter walks up to the viewer with a tray of cocktails and asks: “Excuse me! Care for a drink?” If wearing an MR headset/glasses, the viewer sees a digital hand reach out for the cocktail glass. The viewer may inspect Gatsby’s Dan Cody photos.

Scene 4 (12 am). A flapper walks up to the viewer with an extended hand and asks: “Hello! May I have this dance?” If wearing an MR headset/glasses, the viewer sees a digital hand reach out for the flapper’s hand. Throughout this confrontational dramatic scene, the characters direct some of their remarks to the viewer. The viewer may read the private eye’s letter about Gatsby.

Scene 5 (4 am). The blues singer directs her song “Downhearted Blues” to the viewer as Klipspringer plays the song on the library piano. The viewer may read Gatsby's telegram to Daisy.


                                                              Viewer Dream-Spaces      

Gatsby readers have their own American Dreams. During the afternoon it takes to read the novel’s 180 pages, readers will occasionally — consciously or unconsciously — slip from its exposition of Gatsby’s corrupted dream and, Gatsby-like, mirror elements of their own dreams on how to shape the future by orchestrating the present to recapture some nostalgic past. Readers will build bridges from what they’ve personally experienced to the story unfolding on the page.

The inexorable, directed progress of a traditional movie leaves little or no time for such effective daydreaming. But the music preludes preceding the video’s five dramatic scenes provide viewers with these temporal opportunities. After each prelude’s mandatory first minute (to allow for musical start-ups and conductor-waiter-dancer-singer interactions), viewers may opt to have each music piece play on to completion (typically 4 minutes).

Coupled with the freedom to look about the production stage, the preludes provide for viewer “dream-spaces” to accommodate the active mind-wandering one may experience when reading the novel. Viewers may “wander” back to mentally associate what they are seeing to something familiar and intimate. As with the novel's readers, viewers will build bridges from what they’ve personally experienced to the story unfolding on the video.  


                                                        Spatial Audio

Spatial audio is a powerful way to fully immerse viewers and direct attention within a 180° 3D production via sound. With spatial audio, the entire spherical sound field is audible and responds to changes in viewer head rotation.

Spatial audio gives viewers the impression of directionality and a believable auditory experience that matches what they see. Spatial audio involves the manipulation of audio signals to mimic acoustic behavior in the real world. An accurate sonic representation of a virtual world creates a compelling immersive experience. Spatial audio is best heard through an enabled pair of headphones or earphones — no special speakers, hardware, or multi-channel headphones are required.

Spatial audio not only serves to enhance the immersion but is also effective in alerting viewers to dramatic moments within the presentation. It directs viewers’ attention during the music preludes when they are likely to be looking around the virtual stage. The conductor’s tapping baton in scene 2, the waiter’s “Excuse me?” in scene 3 and the flapper’s “Hello?” in scene 4 all alert viewers to these characters’ subsequent comments and actions.


                                                       Haptic Devices

Haptic technology creates an experience of touch by applying forces, vibrations or motions to the viewer. These technologies can be used to interact with virtual objects in a digital environment and incorporate tactile sensors that measure forces exerted by the viewer. Haptics are gaining acceptance as a key part of MR systems, adding the sense of touch to visual and aural interfaces.