As part of DesignScene’s online Navigate summit, we hosted a panel discussion on Immersive Storytelling complete with a live, virtual audience. The panel featured senior DesignScene creatives Emma Wilkinson and Lucy Ducker, as well as the creative impresario behind Secret Theatres, Richard Crawford. The panel responded to the audience’s questions with their insights on immersive storytelling, its meaning, purpose and potential.
We’ve summarised the panel discussion below, or you can watch the edited highlights by clicking the link.
Q: What does immersive mean?
– Immersive experiences are ones that surround you. They use all of the senses so that the audience is completely engaged and transported to another world.
– Immersion can help the audience feel part of a brand and better understand what it stands for.
– Immersive experiences give the audience a completely 360 degree experience in which they feel they’re part of the story and have the power to impact it.
Q: Why is there a need for story-telling?
– The power of story-telling is to give audiences a clear narrative and structure that they can follow. It creates a journey that audiences can really feel a part of.
– We use narrative to connect emotionally with the audience. Brands can utilise this to talk to audiences in a more meaningful way.
– Content is important but it needs to be wrapped up in a story in order to create a more immersive, memorable experience.
Q: Can you do immersive story-telling digitally?
– As we’re no longer in control of the audiences’ environment, it’s even more important to have a unifying story or idea that draws the viewer into a digital experience.
– You can still make a thrilling experience digitally even when your audience is predominantly at home.
– The use of devices helps make it immersive and memorable. Viewers can assist and interact with characters live during a digital performance using their telephone, via email, etc.
– A digital audience can build a relationship with characters in advance and contact them on their phones, via email, etc.
– They can vote on how the show progresses, be contacted during the show and even brought into the story.
– You can still create a thrilling experience with memorable moments so that the audience goes on a journey and feels that they had an impact on how the story finished.
– Digital allows us to talk to an audience in ways we never have before. So that they don’t feel like they’re sat passively watching a screen but feel part of the experience.
To learn more about DesignScene’s application of immersive storytelling techniques within live and digital events, and how we can apply our expertise to your project, contact DesignScene at info@designscene.com.
