Walk-in Theater™ is an experiment with peripatetic perspective, engaging participants' proprioceptors and spatial memory to orient themselves as they navigate among multiple video streams in a 3D sound field.

Departing from one-way linear cinema played on a single rectangular screen, this multi-channel virtual environment pursues a cinematic paradigm that undoes habitual ways of framing things, employing architectural concepts in a polylinear video/sound construction to create a kind of experience that lets the world reveal itself and permits discovery on the part of visitors.

Improvising on techniques of polylinear perspective long explored in Japanese painting and landscape design, Rachel Strickland's Emptiness Can Hold Things establishes a new vocabulary for the cinematic construction of a sense of place. Cycle By is the first of six Kyoto location studies in this interactive video series. Amidst intervals and thresholds of an urban landscape, at the confluence of two rivers there is a parallel universe perceived by bicyclists. The scene on any spring weekend unrolls like a picture scroll.

Moviemaker Sound Design Interactivity Rachel Strickland Jim McKee Eric Gould Bear Read the technology incubation white paper, experience Cycle By and stay tuned for future productions . . .

Polylinear video

Take a walk among multiple video streams. This bird's-eye view shows a configuration of Walk-in Theater with six video channels.

Sometimes, all six play simultaneously. At other times, some disappear. Listen as you wander. Curious connections reveal themselves.

Surround soundscape

Sounds get louder as you approach their sources and call your attention when you are looking the other direction.

Headphones are essential for audio spatialization.

Orient yourself

As you find your way around Walk-in Theater, compass points of the real world matter.

If you don't see any video panes in front of you, simply turn around. A U-Turn signal means that you're approaching a wall. Turn around.

Get physical

Walk-in Theater has no seats.

Since you'll be turning your body in space, you should probably stand on your feet. A spinning chair can work, but be sure you have enough room to rotate all the way around and keep going.

Moving forward and back

Pivot your iPad down to approach a video pane of interest. Pivot up to move away and expand your field of view.

Moving side to side

Tip your iPad sideways, like a car steering wheel, to move left or right. This is a good way to center yourself in front of a video pane of interest.

Center to rest

Glance at the compass in the lower-left corner of the screen. Adjust the tilt of your iPad until the amber calibration dot is centered. Now you can relax.

Compass interference

Your iPad may display the message, "Move away from any interference, or re-calibrate by waving iPad in a figure 8 motion."

The accuracy of the digital compass can be influenced by magnetic fields. Magnets contained in iPad cases are sometimes the culprit. Removing the case is an easy fix.