I began experimenting with VRML shortly after it made its appearance on the web. I was intrigued by the spatial possibilities it offered to hypertext and intertextuality itself. In attempt to create a novel interface between readers and texts, I made a VR version of "Narrating National Sadness." Written in collaboration with Yeh Yueh-yu, this was probably the first close textual analysis of a film in hyptertext. I took the essay---a book's worth of text---and created virtual worlds with floating Chinese characters that the bits of hypertext pivoted around.

In 2001, I was a faculty sponsor for a group of students in University of Michigan's virtual reality course. Jenny Ehland, Matt Hirons, Mike Rodehorst, and Kevin Tang created three worlds designed to teach narrative space in cinema. They include one Hollywood film, and two alternatives from Asian cinema. The worlds reconstruct sets on which the three films were shot. An elaborate inteface (see above) mimics the controls of a motion picture camera, either on a dolly or a tripod. Fixed points recreate shots from the films, or users can create their own shots. It takes a while to master, but then so does a movie camera.

The Maltese Falcon (John Huston, 1941)

City of Sadness (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 1989)

Autumn Afternoon (Ozu Yasujiro, 1962)