Virtual reality: Technology, art, practice

The known history of humanity has survived to the present day through stories and narratives. Whether it is the painting on the wall of a cave, sculpture, literature, theatre or cinema, all tools developed throughout human history tell stories. Cinema, which marked the 20th century, continues to tell stories as the most widely used device in the world. Cinema, which continues to grow and progress by incorporating the developing digital technology, has developed its narrative in parallel with these technologies. The transformations in digital technology have not only contributed to cinema. It has also made virtual reality technology, a technology that dates back much further, popular again. In virtual reality headsets, which are formally small enough to be used in daily life, users can feel themselves in another time and space and live experiences that they cannot experience in real life. Stories and narratives find an important place in virtual reality, which is a new media technology. In this context, virtual reality narratives, which allow users to experience many different stories with their interactive and variable structure, take some codes from traditional narrative tools, but also contain some unique codes and design details. The aim of this thesis is to reveal the structure and unique codes of virtual reality narrative. The study investigates the most frequently used techniques and codes when creating virtual reality narratives, their effects on the structure, how they are used in 360-degree videos and fully interactive virtual reality experiences, and the differences between them. In the study, a qualitative method that focuses on the human-centred and sense of being there, based on the sample analyses in the literature, was used. In the virtual reality analyses of Julia Martinez Martinez Perez and Ümmühan Molo in the literature, a transformed form of style analysis is used. In the new model, in addition to this analysis method, the scenes were analysed in detail with a focus on the feeling of being there based on the framework put forward by Eric R. Williams, Matt Love and Carrie Love. As a sample, "After Life" and "Vader Immortal: A Star Wars Series" were analysed. As a result of the analysis, it was concluded that design details centred on human senses can be used effectively in both 360-degree videos and fully interactive virtual reality experiences.