Sandbox Demo Analysis #3: Once A Glacier
During South by Southwest I had the opportunity to experience , “Once A Glacier” , an interactive VR film. The film focuses on the effects of climate change and how it is destroying glaciers faster than ever. The story of this film focuses on the life of a young girl and her relationship with a glacier. The parallels between the glacier and the girl herself as she ages is a beautiful thing. I spoke with the artist, Jiabao Li, about the film and she mentioned that the indigenous tribes in Alaska believe that memories are stored within glaciers.
This experience was very immersive even before I entered the VR film. Audience members begin by entering a space filled with balloons that replicate ice. This entrance reminds me of Nick Urbom’s talk on the TXI Immersive Video Series , in which he mentions that users don’t want passive experiences, they want to be engaged and a great way to prepare users to do just that is by “[doing something] that when people just enter [the space] they can be immersed right away””. I felt immediately immersed and engaged by entering this creative space, the lights and balloons got me excited for the Virtual Reality experience as I already felt like I just entered another world.
The film starts by following a young girl with blue hair kayaking down a river and it is paired with the scent of water and ice. I normally have blue hair so I felt like I could insert myself into this character. Which is backed up by Professor Seung-A ‘Annie’ Jin , who found that players who created Mii’s who were around their body type but slightly more idealized felt more connected to their characters. The film then continues to show the young girls life as well as the glaciers, there were a few moments during the film where I had to interact with the space in order to move forward with the narrative. I felt an almost emotional connection to the glacier by the end of the film.
The artist had a scent dispenser that went off during four separate parts of the film. The scents were hand-made by the artist by combining different smells to create an entirely new smell to replicate environments and memories. The addition of scents with the physical and auditory experience really made me feel like I was in the space. Normally VR only has visual and auditory elements. This olfactory addition required the audience to be physically present in order to truly experience the smell. Users can disassociate and ignore visuals and audio but a user cannot escape a scent. Larry Shiner mentions how “contemporary artists are drawn to smell because odors and scents arouse strong, highly personal emotional associations” which I felt like I experienced in the “Once A Glacier”. The film was already so emotional and focused heavily on memories so the scent element contributed even more to that. People never forget scents which allows for them to bring back memories. For instance, my father passed away when I was 16 but sometimes I will catch a whiff of the cologne he used to wear and immediately think of him.
In addition, the audio in “Once A Glacier” used atmospheric sounds like birds chirping and water lapping as well as having a narrator. The atmospheric sounds made me feel like I was in the virtual space around me.
Lori H. Schwartz from the TXI Immersive Video Series mentioned that it is essential to know the different types of media you work with, how they can be helpful for each of your different ideas and to pick the one that would go best with your idea. I think the combination of a physical installation, smells, and virtual reality made this experience entirely immersive. If any of the pieces in this experience were taken away I think it would have made me less engaged. I walked away from this experience caring more about the environment around me and its connection to myself.
