Research Journal IV
The virtual environment created is meant to create a relatable and generalized experience of depression. The visual components of the virtual environment are based on the recurring elements described by people with depression. The aesthetics will be minimalistic and monochromatic, general idea is to have a large empty space with little visible objects in each scene to create a sense of loneliness. I would like to not only study the portrayal of depression through the medium of virtual reality but also help others be more understanding by being immersed in the abstract representation of depression.
“Everything just feels blue and empty”, “It feels like dark, pitch black”. People with depression or anxiety often associate their mood with the color blue and gray, therefore to set the mood of the spaced, I thought of having a large amount of the same color to capture the feeling of isolation, making the player feel small. Players will be thrown into a minimalist space, with basic objects.
Referring to the recurrent conceptual metaphors from the received narrative that depression is a dark space and a monster along with suitable audio and music, I hope to reveal the patterns in how the affliction of depression is experienced through the medium of VR.
The structure of project can be viewed from Lakoff's 'duals' theory discussed in The Contemporary Theory of Metaphor (1993), that ‘emotional state is a location and emotional state is an object’. Based on the event structure system of duality, Change is Motion and Causes are Forces; in the location system, change is the motion of things moving to a new location from the old one whereas in the object in motion is conceptualized as a possession and the thing-changing as a possessor. People described depression as seeing a ray of light at the end of the tunnel only to find out there is nothing but darkness. To create feelings of helplessness, players will not be told what to do nor given a controller to navigate around, instead, when certain objects will draw players towards it, only to enter unseen triggers or portals and be transported to another desolated scene. Players being attracted to the only visible objects can be seen as the cause that give force to the change of location.
As the whole project is visually minimalistic, it relies mostly on the programming for interaction with the space. Another abstract representation of depression is that ‘depression is a container’, some described it as a dark pit or a wall between them and the world. I am currently experimenting with the concept of the container, when the player enters an area, the glass wall in the distance (or invisible before triggered) will close in on the player trapping the player. The player will be deemed helpless until as they will once again forced to another location. Without much prior experience with the game development program, I am currently trying different methods to realize this idea. Another recurring element is being haunted by their inner monster. I thought of interpreting that as the being haunted by oneself as often time negative self-talk feeds anxiety and depression. Therefore I am considering having lurking shadows of the player in the scenes instead of a physical monster, although the latter is not ruled out. Currently, I am discussing with the lecturer, figuring out which method is the most doable considering the possible outcome and the time required to achieved it.
Words and narratives that expresses the emotions of people with depression are also the core of the project as it is based on narrative text. Lyrics are considered a form of self-expression, the language used are similar to the descriptive text submitted by people with depression, poetic and metaphorical. Putting together the texts from lyrics and individual stories with similar meaning, it is sometimes hard to differentiate one from the other. Therefore, I attempted to incorporate them into the final artwork as virtual reality is more than just visual senses but often includes auditory senses as well.
The background soundtrack consists of “The soundtrack of depression” by Montana Cellist and “Dancing in the dark” by Joji and were layered with lowpass-filters on them so that they are so muffled that no words are audible except the low humming base. According to an Australian study, hearing problems are associated with depression and other serious mental health issues (Hogan, O'Loughlin, Miller and Kendig, 2009). Young people who were reported with permanent hearing symptoms are related to adverse self-assessed general and mental health, and having symptoms of depression and thoughts of suicide (Vogel, Looij-Jansen, Mieloo, Burdorf and Waart, 2014). The sound of drowning and underwater sound effect was added onto it with similar filters as a reference to the drowning metaphor. As for the main narrative, I initially considered using online text-to-speech converter to create a contrasting effect, an emotionless voice speaking deep felt words. While the result was slightly unsettling, it might be suitable for generalizing as the words will not be from anyone’s perspective. After researching on the significance it my have, I discovered the term “ Depression Robot”, a line of studies was conducted to see if artificial intelligence could experience depression. Computational Psychiatrists suggested that human brains equivalent of an AI’s key global variable are the “neuromodulators” including the dopamine and serotonin systems (Mainen, 2018). Furthermore, there is also a robot therapy, an avatar therapy that is meant to treat people with voice hallucinations. Considering the role of AI in mental health studies, using a robotic voice might have other implications which might differ from the original intention.
The other alternative was working with human voice. It is commonly agreed that certain human voice qualities are associated with perception of certain emotions. Using a single voice may be arguably too distinctive or too personalized, however having multiple voices might resemble schizophrenia or voice hallucination instead as there may be overlapping verbal characteristics between the two mental illness. Recalling earlier research on the stigma placed on depression by people who never had it before, I thought it would be interesting to ask someone without depression to read the selected scripts however they think it should be read. The outcome was rather sombre and “depressed”, which made me wonder if they were sympathy or empathy as human beings. It is an interesting context that makes people reflect on how society views depression as there’s only a thin line between fear and empathy. After weighing both outcomes, I decided to go with the human voice.
The tracks were sometimes far apart, sometimes, layered more densely with recurring phrases repeated and echoed for emphasis. The audio collage turned out to be unexpectedly soothing and calming according to those who heard it which is an interesting contrast to the its content. I think the audio track not only conveyed the narratives, but also some emotions as well, I decided use it in a multi-sensorial installation instead, where the audience would listen to it with headphones, behind a semi-sheer curtain, to create an immersive atmosphere of while being there, the sound and sight of the world around the participant is turned down. The sound experience created with the textual content will be made as a separate art piece instead as the narrative might be as strong as the visual interpretation.As for the sound that will be used in the VR, the new idea is to have sound of everyday life such as conversations of people and other mundane sounds echo at the far distance. The aim is to represent the feelings of cut off from the things around them despite being physically present at social activities.
The virtual reality space is currently being designed in the Unity game engine, in order to have a better apprehension of how it will actually look like, I will have to experiment with the actual VR gears. I might have others try it out and make necessary improvements based on their feedback. At this point I am still wondering if the aesthetics chosen is an appropriate depiction of the mental disorder, if it is in anyway disrespectful or glamorizing depression, however I will try my best in expressing the experience of depression based on the descriptions of people in hopes of help others gain empathy and understanding.
References
Hogan, A., O’Loughlin, K., Miller, P., & Kendig, H. (2009). ‘The Health Impact of a Hearing Disability on Older People in Australia’, Journal of Aging and Health, 21(8), 1098–1111. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/0898264309347821 (Accessed: April 25 2019)
Lakoff, G (1993) ‘The contemporary theory of metaphor’, In: Ortony A (ed.) Metaphor and Thought, 2nd edn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 202–251. Available at: https://terpconnect.umd.edu/~israel/lakoff-ConTheorMetaphor.pdf (Accessed: April 25 2019)
Mainen, Z. (2018) ‘What depressed robots can teach us about mental health’, The Guardian, April 16. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/16/depressed-robots-mental-health-artificial-intelligence-human-brain (Accessed: April 30 2019)
Vogel, I., van de Looij-Jansen, P. M., Mieloo, C. L., Burdorf, A., & de Waart, F. (2014). ‘Risky music listening, permanent tinnitus and depression, anxiety, thoughts about suicide and adverse general health’, PloS one, 9(6), e98912. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0098912 Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4045887/ (Accessed: 9 April 2019)
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