Augmented screen, triple storytelling and the role of the user: a case study

The present panorama shows a society saturated with images, driven by the use of mobile devices and constant audiovisual consumption. However, no greater skills are achieved in users, but on the contrary, there is evidence of a detriment in the rate of attention and the search for a differentiating product from the wide range of available content. Given this recent uncertainty, the film industry has found a great ally in technology. The existence of technologies such as augmented reality is still in its infancy and raises new questions about the potential for its use in film. In this study, a case study analysis of Disney’s first augmented reality short film, Remembering (Allan-Blitz, 2022), was carried out. The methodology used focuses on three approaches: audiovisual language, viewing with technology and the role of the receiver. The results show the existence of a digital and economic disparity, due to the particularity of the viewing devices. In addition, the story presents a tripartite narrative; a slower and simpler one with wide shots, a faster and more unstable one in which physical and virtual spaces converge, and a final one created by the user as a steadycam. These readings require a more active and present spectator, in a story that lacks the adaptation of audiovisual language to the new form of visualisation, in which the possibilities of time and space offered by these technologies are not taken advantage of.