Can people cry at avatar performances? Thinking about the appeal of metaverse dramas

Hello, I'm Reiji Kuga.

I received this question in my note question box.

This question was quite welcome for me, as I am someone who creates metaverse dramas.

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However, it is also a question that I am a little afraid to answer.
If I just say, "Metaverse dramas are amazing" here,
I feel like I would be missing the most important point.

I do not think that metaverse dramas are a superior version of movies, anime, or games.

In fact, if compared head-on as video works, there are many areas where they cannot win.

An avatar's facial expressions do not move as delicately as those of a live-action actor, nor can they depict emotions as finely as anime. It is also different from the experience of games, where the viewer can freely manipulate the story.

So, what is interesting about them?

Perhaps that is the point.

I received this question from my question box as well. I would be happy if you could feel free to send in questions about metaverse dramas, creative work, AI utilization, and more.

Honestly, it is not a form of expression that can win on visuals alone

People who watch a metaverse drama for the first time might feel it is "a bit strange" rather than "amazing" at first.

There is a set in a virtual space, avatar actors are standing there, and they are acting with their voices. I think the more accustomed people are to ordinary video works, the more uncomfortable they will feel at first.

I myself ran into that many times while making "Crossroad".

Can emotions be conveyed with these movements? Will the swaying of the heart really reach the audience with these expressions? I switched cameras, layered sounds, and built spaces, but what remained at the end was the anxiety of "will this reach people?"

It is a work I have spent three and a half years making. Many people have been involved, and I have packed in everything I could do in my own way.

But I have always wondered.

Can people really cry at avatar performances?

The avatar is not crying. But there were people who cried

After screening "Crossroad," there were people who said they "cried."

When I heard those words, I felt a little relieved rather than happy.

The avatars were not shedding tears like live-action actors. Their facial muscles were not trembling in detail, nor could they express the subtle changes in the depths of their eyes.

Even so, something reached me.

Perhaps it was the placement of their voices, or the length of the silences. The distance between the characters, the background music, the story that had been built up to that point. I think that when things like that overlap, something can move within a person.

At that moment, I felt like I understood a little bit.

The appeal of metaverse dramas might be a little different from showing something perfectly as a video.

The strange tactile sensation of being in the same space

In ordinary video works, you watch a completed piece from outside the screen. A well-crafted work takes you into the story all at once.

But in a metaverse drama, a little bit of the 'scene' remains.

The actors are there, and the audience is there too. Of course, in reality, it is through PCs, smartphones, or VR goggles. Even so, the feeling of gathering in the same virtual space and watching a story at the same time is a little different from just playing a video.

The atmosphere of a screening is mysterious.

Even if there are no comments scrolling by, there is a sense that someone else is watching the same scene. Maybe there is someone holding their breath at the exact same moment right now. That kind of thing, which doesn't appear on the screen, remains just a little bit.

You are outside the story, yet you are slightly inside it.

I believe this ambiguity is the appeal of metaverse dramas.

Because it is weak, you have to be creative to make it reach people

Metaverse drama is still a developing form of expression.

It is difficult to convey all emotions through avatar acting alone, and if you try to compete solely on the perfection of the visuals, it is quite difficult.

Therefore, if you cannot convey everything through facial expressions, you have no choice but to rely on voice and timing. If the movement is insufficient, you have no choice but to show it through positioning and the distance in the space.

As you try to fill in what is missing in that way, I think that conversely, a margin is created where the audience's imagination can enter.

This is not a convenient form of expression. Honestly, it is quite troublesome.

But there is a tactile sensation that can only be found within that trouble. Because it is not perfect, there is something that is supplemented within the viewer. Because the creator cannot control everything, an atmosphere remains that only those who were there can feel.

I feel a potential there that has not yet fully formed into words.

Still in the middle of finding the answer

So, what is it that only remains in metaverse dramas?

I haven't been able to put it into clear words yet, either.

Perhaps what exists in metaverse dramas is a little different from the feeling of simply delivering a finished product. The audience also gets to be present, just a little, in the place where the story unfolds.

People far apart enter the same virtual space from their respective locations and receive the same story. I feel that this experience has not yet taken a proper shape.

That is precisely why the creators struggle every time.
Can people cry at avatar performances?

I still cannot say the answer to that out loud with confidence.

But there were people who cried.
So, I want to believe in it just a little bit more.

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