4. 360° is less than 180°

The more there is to see, the less the audience remembers.

In our third test, audiences with a 90° range of vision could recall nearly every event in the story, whether the information was physically in the room or relayed through the audio. However, audiences in the 360° view recalled fewer details of the story and the environment. For example, in the 90°scene, all of the participants in the debriefing referred to Taro by name. In the 180° scene, Taro was sometimes referred to by name, but was more often given descriptors like “young man.” By the 360° scene, few remembered Taro’s name, instead they referred to him offhandedly as “the kid at the computer.”

Much of the story information, including character names, was delivered through the audio. The fact that participants in the 360° scene couldn’t remember Taro’s name (among other story details), suggests that they were focusing less on the audio in 360° than in the 180° or 90° scenes. Perhaps there was too much information in 360° for the audience to process. When telling a story in 360°, we need to consider how to combine audio and visual elements without overloading the audience.

…but

5. 360° is more than full circle

The more complete the environment, the more it resonates.

Audiences in the 360° scene were more aware of the tone of the piece, which they attributed to the pacing and shifts in the lighting. They were so attuned to the tone that when asked who was in control of the story, they described the storyteller as the mise-en-scene itself, or used some abstraction, like the storyteller was the “rhythm” of the scene.

Audiences in the 360° scene were also more attuned with Taro’s feelings. They could clearly and unequivocally identify that Taro was feeling “lonely,” and sometimes felt that Taro’s feelings were reflected in the mise-en-scene itself. Whereas those in the 90° and 180° scenes really struggled to characterize Taro, claiming that they did not have enough information to draw conclusions about him.

There’s something interesting happening here. It may be that when you feel present in an experience, you are more likely to rely on abstractions and pick up on feelings, and when you are in “detective mode” you are more likely to pick up on story details, but have difficulty accessing feelings. Perhaps being present and retaining story details are fundamentally at odds.