Audience immersion

Audience immersion is a storytelling technique which attempts to make the audience feel as though they are a part of the story or performance, a state which may be referred to as "transportation" into the narrative, permitting high levels of suspension of disbelief.{{Cite journal|last1=Lu|first1=Amy Shirong|last2=Baranowski|first2=Tom|last3=Thompson|first3=Debbe|last4=Buday|first4=Richard|date=June 2012|title=Story Immersion of Videogames for Youth Health Promotion: A Review of Literature|journal=Games for Health Journal|volume=1|issue=3|pages=199–204|doi=10.1089/g4h.2011.0012|issn=2161-783X|pmc=3833363|pmid=24416639}} Audience immersion may be used to enhance learning or to create a more realistic experience.{{Cite journal|last=Lu|first=Lilly|date=2013|title=3D Virtual Worlds as Art Media and Exhibition Arenas: Students' Responses and Challenges in Contemporary Art Education|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24467862|journal=Studies in Art Education|volume=54|issue=3|pages=232–245|doi=10.1080/00393541.2013.11518896|jstor=24467862|s2cid=150559818|issn=0039-3541}} Various methods may be employed to this end, including narrative perspective in writing or technical design in the performing arts.{{Cite journal|last1=Freitag|first1=Florian|last2=Molter|first2=Céline|last3=Mücke|first3=Laura Katharina|last4=Rapp|first4=Helena|last5=Schlarb|first5=Damien B.|last6=Sommerlad|first6=Elisabeth|last7=Spahr|first7=Clemens|last8=Zerhoch|first8=Dominic|date=2020-12-11|title=Immersivity: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Spaces of Immersion|url=http://journals.openedition.org/ambiances/3233|journal=Ambiances. Environnement Sensible, Architecture et Espace Urbain|language=en|doi=10.4000/ambiances.3233|issn=2266-839X|doi-access=free}}{{Cite thesis|last=Shearing|first=David Richard|title=Audience Immersion and the Experience of Scenography|date=April 2015|degree=PhD|publisher=The University of Leeds School of Performance and Cultural Industries|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/30268385.pdf}}, p2. An early example of audience immersion is from the 1846 travelogue Pictures from Italy by Charles Dickens, in which the narrator, speaking in the first person, addresses the reader using second-person pronouns, allowing the reader to "picture themselves with Dickens as he travels."{{Cite journal|last=Rutledge|first=Alison|date=2015|title=Travelling Narrator, Travelling Characters: Developments in Narration and Characterization in the Novels of Dickens|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/44372247|journal=Dickens Studies Annual|volume=46|page=59|doi=10.7756/dsa.046.003/51-70|jstor=44372247|issn=0084-9812}}

In theatre, audio-visual technologies have been increasingly employed to increase immersion.{{Cite web|last=Suine|first=Emily|date=2021-03-17|title=How sound design is reinventing the way we experience theatre|url=https://happymag.tv/how-sound-design-is-reinventing-theatre/|access-date=2021-09-15|website=Happy Mag|language=en-US}} For example, the 2019 Cold War play Anna used binaural sound transmitted through headphones to make "each spectator culpable in the tale of spying, surveillance and secrets" in a voyeuristic manner.{{Cite web|last=Dilek|first=Mert|date=2019-05-26|title=Ella Hickson's "ANNA" at The National Theatre|url=https://thetheatretimes.com/ella-hicksons-anna-at-the-national-theatre/|access-date=2021-09-15|website=The Theatre Times|language=en-US}} Immersive theater is a style of theater that enforces audience immersion by physically placing the audience within the performance space, allowing interaction with performers, and breaking the fourth wall during the performance.{{Cite journal|last=Bouko|first=Catherine|date=May 2014|title=Interactivity and Immersion in a media-based performance|journal=Participations: Journal of Audience and Reception Studies|volume=11|issue=1}} British theatre company Punchdrunk is well known for its immersive theatre productions, such as Sleep No More, an adaptation of Macbeth.{{Cite journal|last=Prudhon|first=Deborah|date=2018-07-01|title=Punchdrunk's Immersive Theatre: From the End to the Edge|url=http://journals.openedition.org/sillagescritiques/6341|journal=Sillages Critiques|language=en|issue=24|doi=10.4000/sillagescritiques.6341|issn=1272-3819|doi-access=free}}

Many audiovisual media formats including video games attempt to employ audience immersion. In video gaming, audience immersion has been studied as a strategy for promoting behavior change for the implementation of public health objectives.