Old(er) Media and New Musical Affordances in Virtual Reality Experiences

Abstract

This chapter explores how recent virtual reality experiences (from 2010 onward) have remediated musical “protocols” of older audiovisual media such as film, video games, and music videos while creating a number of new affordances that draw attention to the newness of VR. Soundtrack and music video protocols in 360° videos such as Lost and Gorillaz’s “Saturnz Barz” emphasize the affordance of looking for a sound source, while the addition of an ambient musical soundtrack to the VR remediation of Google Earth emphasizes the user’s bodily presence in the virtual environment. Critiquing and expanding the notion of VR as a form of what Bolter and Grusin would call “transparent immediacy,” the chapter suggests that the music in these VR applications also facilitates experiences of hypermediacy, foregrounding the apparatus and idiosyncrasies of a new medium.