A Preliminary Exploration of Montage Transitions in Cinematic Virtual Reality

Cinematic Virtual Reality allows viewers to watch films without the limitation of screen edges, whilst controlling their own viewpoint. The loss of screen edges and camera control leads to the problem that filmmakers cannot precisely edit each shot using traditional techniques, as the viewer's direction and field of view is dynamic. As such, many established film making methods should be reconsidered. In this paper, we present our initial exploration for the implementation of montage in Virtual Reality (VR) films, focusing on the investigation of transition effects. A pilot study is presented, which compared three transition effects. Two popular existing transition effects (cut and fade) were applied, along with a third method (VR portal). The VR Portal was designed and selected specifically to meet the requirements for montage in VR films. We present the preliminary results and our insights, concluding with future plans.