Train of thought

Participants are drawn into a voyeuristic experience produced by New York-based creative agency Specular Studio. At first they are on a typical ride on the New York subway. Then, abruptly, the train screeches to a halt, there is a power surge and a blackout takes place.

Understandably, at first, this causes panic. But soon spotlights illuminate fellow passengers and, thanks to virtual reality (VR) technology, viewers who glance at these characters begin to hear their thoughts.

This form of narration has often been used in traditional films to explain plot or give viewers access to inner monologues. Specular Studio’s VR experience feels intuitive and telepathic, an innovation that offers storytellers opportunities to play with new narrative directions.

The team at Specular Studio used DepthKit, a piece of software that repurposes the depth-sensing camera from the Microsoft Kinect to visualise the environment. Since its launch on crowdfunding platform Kickstarter the project has received more than £30,180 ($45,000, €41,490) in funds.