Aural Authenticity and Reality in Soundscape of VR Documentary

The documentary concept is a 'notoriously slippery eel,' or even the slipperiest one in the history of cinema (Kahana, 2016). With the involvement of virtual reality in the production of documentaries, the dialectic between virtuality and authenticity makes this concept even more elusive. Does documentary exist in VR films? When the spaces and mise-en-scène of the documentary are all artificially created through computing software, can it still be considered an authentic form of a documentary? How can this sub-genre of documentary continue to exist as a kind of proclaimed ‘non-fiction’ when the film is based entirely on fictional visual input? This paper aims to put the discussion on visual realities aside and provides a perspective for understanding how real auditory characteristics are built up in virtual environments (VE) of virtual reality documentaries. We develop this argument in three parts. In the first part, we define a virtual reality documentary and distinguish it from other virtual reality films based on Bill Nichols’s analysis of the boundary between traditional documentary and other types of films. Then, we describe the design and implementation of the aural simulation systems with HRTF (Head-Related Transfer Function) in virtual reality documentary sound design to illustrate how it could reproduce realistic physical hearing for viewers. In the final part, we explore the concept of ‘soundscape’ as it applies to VR documentaries, attempting to show that the sense of authenticity in the audition is related to generating the genius loci (spirit of place) of the viewers based on the case analysis of Anne Frank House VR. Such a spirit of place is embedded in the hearing experience of those who experienced it.