I began creating this immersive storytelling program during my winter 2021 university course. In general, I created a virtual apartment I actually lived in Ottawa to tell my self-isolation story during the pandemic.
Solo Project
3D Modelling Immersive Storytelling
January 2021 - July 2021 7 months
Since the pandemic started early last year, it has been a miserable journey for me as an international student. From home self-isolation in Ottawa, going through multiple Covid-19 tests, air travels, to hotel quarantine. To create this environment, I chose the scene of my apartment in Ottawa during self-isolation. Because that is where I was living in 2020; it encompasses my complex state of mind and the underlying mental stress.
My room in Ottawa, Shot on 2020
These two sketches come from when I first designed the structure of the environment. I mapped it based on the apartment floor plan I lived in last year. Then I determined the floor height to ensure the realism of this interior environment. I also tweaked the first-person camera ratio to make sure it fits the viewing angle of most users.
As the school term ended, my project was invited to join the research project about VR storytelling on COVID-19 by Dr. Sojung Bahng. I further developed the project with the help of Dr. Sojung Bahng, and she transformed it into a 360-degree storytelling project.
I added more details to the project to make it look more in line with the real-life experience. The uneaten pizza, the randomly thrown towels, the cluttered room, the books and papers, all these are enough to suggest the state of my life and my lazy habits.
Images are capture from the Unity Project
With the suggestion of Dr. Sojung Bahng, I recorded the sound of my walking and the game footage on my computer. Sound, as one of the essential dimensions of immersive storytelling, further enhances the credibility as well as the authenticity of the overall 360-degree video.