States of Immersion Across Media

Philippe Bédard is an independent researcher with a fascination for moving image media and their technologies. As part of his postdoctoral research, he focused on virtual reality, with a focus on the notion of empathy. Finally, he has worked extensively in and around the immersive media industry in Montreal, including work with Xn Québec, Festival du Nouveau Cinéma, the National Film Board of Canada’s interactive studio, and SODEC. Alanna Thain is associate professor of cultural studies, world cinemas and gender, sexuality and feminist studies at McGill University. She directs the Moving Image Research Lab, devoted to the study of the body in moving image media and research-creation practices. She is author of Bodies in Suspense: Time and Affect in Cinema (2017) and co-editor of Lo Tech Pop Cult: Screendance Remixed (2024). She co-directs the research project The Sociability of Sleep, and is director of the research team CORÉRISC, on epistemologies of embodied risk. Her work on immersive practices concerns the intersections of mobile media, dance movement, soft bodies and ambient ecologies, in projects such as Cinema Out of the Box, a bike powered mobile cinema, and in essays such as “Anarchival cinemas.” She is also a member of GRAFIM. Carl Therrien is professor of cinema and game studies at Université de Montréal. He has explored the notion of immersion and affective ecologies in his Ph.D dissertation and in multiple papers and book chapters over the years. He has published extensively on the current challenges of video game historiography through case studies of specific genres such as visual novels, horror games and first-person shooters. In The Media Snatcher (Platform studies, MIT Press, 2019), Therrien builds upon previous findings through a comparative study of the TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine, confronting American and Japanese perspectives of this expansive technological platform. He has co-founded the History of Games international conference series and has contributed to the annual Game history symposium in Montreal since 2014.

"In a much-needed critical examination of immersion, a key concept of media theory, this remarkable volume examines its manifestation in a variety of media—VR technology, computer games, film, participatory theater, and narrative fiction—discusses it from a phenomenological point of view, interviews content creators pursuing the experience, and interrogates the future of VR as an artistic and ludic medium." -- Marie-Laure Ryan, Independent literary scholar and critic "Running the gamut from virtual reality to film and game studies, theater to philosophy, this collection demonstrates the myriad ways the idea of immersion continues to inspire discussion and debate. Anyone interested in recent work on the concept, need look no further."-- Paul Roquet, Massachusetts Institute of Technology “This unique collection explores the concept of immersion from a variety of historical and critical perspectives. A key contribution to media studies, it is also a must-read for all those who wish to appreciate the cultural significance of VR and other new technologies of immersion.” -- Jay David Bolter, Georgia Institute of Technology

• Introduction: Carl Therrien, Philippe Bédard, and Alanna Thain, Section 1: Altered States, 1. Immersive Situativity: Perspectives on Being In/Out of Sync, Tom Poljan.ek and Laura Katharina Mücke, 2. Douglas Trumbull and the Technological Aesthetic of Brainstorm: Charles R. Acland, 3. Dual Cognitive Approach, Eugene Kukshinov, 4. Emotional and Immersive Experiences in Films and Games: Looking into the Perceptual Model and Striving for a Motivational Theory, Maxime Deslongchamps-Gagnon, 5. Interaction and Immersion Logics in Encounters: Coalescence of Bodies in a Liquid Space, Claire Chatelet and Mathieu Pradat, 6. Facing Oneself: Out-of-Body Experience, Immersion, and the Remediation of Cinema through Virtual Reality, Pietro Conte, 7. The Time it Takes to Tend Virtual Succulents: ImmersingOneself in a Playthrough of Viridi, Gabriel Tremblay-Gaudette, Section 2: Finding New Frames, 8. The Many Births of Virtual Reality, Philippe Bédard, 9. Seeing by Automobility: Protoautomobility, Immersion, the Traveller-Spectator, and the Phantom Ride, 1897-1912, Michael J. T. Stock, 10. From Participation to Immersion: Promotional Tactics around Tricked and Dynamic Seats in the Film Theatre, Aude Weber-Houde, 11. Surface and Depth: The Picture Plane as a Site of Immersivity in the Digital Age, C. E. Harris, 12. Let's Cross This Portal Together: Immersion Mechanisms in VR Performances and Their Current Limitations, Ágnes Karolina Bakk, 13. Immersive Materiality and Television Production in The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019), Dan Leberg and Sabrina Sauer, 14. More Mbappé Than Me?: Soccer Video Games, Athletic Bodies, and the Performative Displacement, Daniele Iannucci, Section 3: The Edge of Sense(s), 15. Walter Benjamin on the Threshold of Immersion, Sonny Walbrou, 16. Correlations of Immersion and Authenticity in the Experience of Fencing in Hellish Quart and For Honor, Micha. Mochocki and Ignacy Nowicki, 17. New Heritage Ecologies: Embracing Entanglement and Complexity in Virtual Heritage Immersion, Elina Lex, 18. The Contribution of Narrative Puzzles to Player Challenge-Based Immersion: A Case Study of Abzû, Gabrielle Trépanier-Jobin and Mathilde Savoie, 19. The Opposite of Elsewhere: Home Video as Virtual Reality, Madison Brown, 20. Video Game Immersion as Bodily Atmospheric Attunement, Andrea Andiloro, Section 4: Interviews, 21. Beyond Frontiers: An Interview with Félix Lajeunesse (Co-founder and Chief Creative Off icer, Felix & Paul Studios) Edited by Philippe Bédard, 22. Producing Intravene: An Experiment in Immersive Audio, Brenda Longfellow, 23. A Much-Needed Conversation with Women Working in VR, Edited and moderated by Caroline Klimek, 24. Espace & Présence: An Interview with Guillaume Perreault-Roy, Edited by Philippe Bédard, 25. The Ultimate Potential of Immersive Media: An Interview with Kent Bye (Host of the Voices of VR Podcast), Edited by Philippe Bédard, 26. An interview with Skawennati, Edited by Carl Therrien, Indices.