【 XR INDUSTRY EVENT 】Shifting Perspectives: XR Storytelling and Narrative Viewpoint Design

• Panelists

1. Producer of Face Jumping | Yuxin GAO
2. Director of A Courtroom Invitatio | Kai-Ti HUANG
3. Director of The Sad Story of the Little Mouse Who Wanted to Become Somebody | Nicolas BOURNIQUEL

• Moderator

Vice President of Operations, Digital Domain Holdings Limited | Jimmy CHENG

This panel features A Courtroom Invitation directed by Kai-Ti HUANG, Face Jumping produced by Yuxin GAO, and The Sad Story of the Little Mouse Who Wanted to Become Somebody directed by Nicolas BOURNIQUEL. All three XR works employ unique narrative viewpoints that offer audiences unconventional experiences. We invited the three creators to discuss how they bring new narrative perspectives in XR while keeping the stories clear and easy for audiences to follow..

Freedom of View as a Narrative Tool

Director HUANG explained that the idea behind A Courtroom Invitation was to allow viewers to step into various perspectives, investigating a murder like a detective. The perspective shifts among different characters, with segments that shift to a first-person viewpoint, prompting the audience to contemplate the perpetrator’s motivations. As the project is still in development, the team continues to explore new narrative entry points to provide a more comprehensive viewer experience.

GAO shared that Face Jumping centers around the interaction between gazes, rather than beginning with a linear story or defined concept. The goal is to let viewers explore and interact freely, discovering their own narrative path as their perspective shifts and expands over time.

BOURNIQUEL emphasized that a hallmark of XR storytelling is allowing audiences to experience the world from entirely different viewpoints. For The Sad Story of the Little Mouse Who Wanted to Become Somebody, the story relies on bridging the distance between the mouse and the audience. To do so, the team began by defining the viewer’s perspective and reimaging the scale and shape of objects to immerse the audience in the mouse’s point of view and let them roam through the vast human world alongside the character.

Technical or Narrative Limitations?

When asked about challenges during production, BOURNIQUEL observed that each year creators pin hopes on future technical advancements, sometimes at the expense of storytelling. He noted that even though today’s technology is quite mature and more and more tools are available to enhance visual quality, creators still need to prioritize narrative design and content development.

Director HUANG pointed out that the major challenge during development was managing viewpoint transitions within a content-heavy narrative. With multiple characters in play, early testers often felt confused about who they were supposed to be. Eventually, the team opted to begin with a third-person perspective to observe the events, gradually transitioning into each character’s inner world, which helped resolve confusion and improved narrative clarity.

For the Face Jumping team, the biggest production challenge was maintaining stable and continuous eye-tracking. Additionally, since only a few VR headset models on the market currently support eye-tracking, the work also faces significant distribution limitations.

Balancing XR’s Technological Advancement with Storytelling

When asked how technological progress in XR has influenced their creative process, GAO explained that Face Jumping was born out of the team's research in eye-tracking technology. Traditionally, XR interaction relied on hand-tracking, which the team considered not fully developed, making it easy to disrupt the immersive experience. By utilizing eye-tracking technology, they aimed to enhance the audience’s interactive experience and maintain an immersive engagement throughout the story.

Director HUANG observed that many XR works still follow traditional storytelling methods, most often through third-person perspectives. With A Courtroom Invitation, they wanted to challenge this norm by giving the audience more angles and ways to piece together the truth behind the story.

BOURNIQUEL ended on an optimistic note, reflecting on his decade-long journey in XR. Ten years ago, stitching together 360-degree footage required dedicated locations and specialized equipment. Today, he can manage it all himself with ease—a testament to how far the technology has come.