The Weight of Virtual Reality: An Interview with Minhyuk Che
The SK Telecom VR/AR producer discusses narrative forms in social VR, asymmetric storytelling, and public-private partnerships
Minhyuk Che is a VR creator based in Seoul, South Korea, with nearly a decade of experience in VR, from filmmaking to researching social VR platforms. As a VR/AR producer at SK Telecom, a leading company in South Korea’s metaverse market, Che produces the web-drama IFLAND entirely on the ifland social platform and also directs a volumetric capture studio, working with clients ranging from BTS to the Cultural Heritage Administration of South Korea. Director of cinematic VR works Space X Girl (distributed by WITHIN) and NINE VR, Che is sensitive to the emotional and psychological weight of virtual reality as a space that heightens interior life. NINE VR introduces social experience to this vulnerable space as a way to defamiliarize the self as other, exploring the interstices of memory and time. Che’s artistic vision is to blend powerful cinematic narrative with social VR experience and the metaverse more broadly, and develop new ways of interacting with others.
This interview has been translated from Korean to English and edited for length and clarity.
Andrea Kim: How has your work in cinematic VR filmmaking influenced your approach to storytelling in the metaverse?
Minhyuk Che: There are three key points that ground my understanding of storytelling in VR. First, the user enters a real-time rendered space that transforms based on their point-of-view, offering a sense of presence. Second, audiences become participants with new identities and essentially become actors within that space. And third, the aspect of connection is a fundamental part of VR. Although the metaverse is a buzz word now, social VR wasn’t that well-known several years ago. Of course, we had virtual worlds like Second Life, but, generally speaking, such platforms are not commonplace except perhaps in Korea, with the massively popular social networking site, Cyworld, back in the 2000s. Around late 2016, I researched social VR platforms such as Sansar, VRChat, High Fidelity, and AltspaceVR at the CJ Corporation VR/AR Lab to consider their possibilities. I found the multi-user aspect of virtual environments to be quite natural and perhaps fundamental to VR. We collaborated with LindenLab early on to create a virtual, K-pop fandom space where fans could connect with their favorite boy group idols on the social VR platform Sansar. From there, I became more interested in how narrative forms in such environments.
AK: Your film NINE VR blends social VR experience with cinematic VR filmmaking. How does it explore social connection as a narrative technique?
MC: At one point users enter the film for the first time and at another point find themselves beginning to relate to each other and act. I found this new form of connection between audience members to be fascinating, like the film On Body and Soul, in which two people exist in the same dream. By knowing that their dreams are connected, their relationship in real life opens up and changes as well, which I think really captures the essence of what social VR can do, too. Over time, social VR will become a powerful medium to deal with social memory, such as how we remember cultural history or perhaps even something more unconscious. To be able to evoke and experience that space together through tools like the Metaverse can be a great source for inspiration. For NINE VR, however, I wanted to start off with an experience for two participants rather than connecting the mass of people typical in social VR.
AK: Can you discuss more about the themes you work with and how you use virtual presence to explore them?
MC: In NINE VR, the two users assume either the role of the past Self or present Self, which are two unique storylines that begin to crossover. Memory itself is non-linear and unstructured, with variable elements. To recall memory in virtual space seems like a natural choice compatible with the medium — combining disparate moments into one space, juxtaposing them, and showing that in a surreal form of expression. Although we are figuring out these new mediums, I think our sense of longing is actually growing. Rather than thinking, “I better create something new,” I feel that I need to hold onto something I already have (but perhaps have forgotten). This elusive sense of finding what’s been lost through the new is what drives my work.
AK: Do you have any specific tips in terms of interaction mechanisms in multi-user VR storytelling that you can offer to creators?
MC: The storyworld and the metaverse world are two different things. Stories have a sense of cohesion — typically, a closed-off world with a protagonist and plot. The metaverse is a completely different space that’s open, with no single protagonist but rather users who spontaneously and voluntarily move as they please. Within a story, let’s say I have a set identity, a supporting role, an existence within it. To be recognized by another gives me a sense of faith in my given identity and increases my sense of immersion. My presence and the other’s presence give rise to a certain synergy that makes the story more real.
Unlike being player one and two of a game, a multi-user narrative can be asymmetric, with the environment or story shaping the starting point of each identity. When the past self encounters the present self, that’s actually their future self, right, so it’s quite an intense experience, to encounter a life you haven’t yet lived. So within NINE VR, seeing, feeling, and meeting the other holds a different meaning depending on which side you are on, the past or present. Moreover, in NINE VR, neither user realizes that the other exists. Once you realize the other exists, the user needs to recognize who they are playing, and act within that narrative as it moves along.
In Lyndsie Scoggin’s Welcome to Respite, the protagonist has multiple personality disorder, and his mother and father are caring for him. The actors are giving care to the user, who plays the child. As we give presence to the character, we can move and speak but need time to accept our new identities and get used to it. There’s a gap or distance toward it. But this work uses that process of not remembering yourself or your social identity as a narrative technique to connect with a protagonist with multiple personality disorder. As an audience member, all my behaviors become a form of acting within this virtual world.
In short, you need to make the audience act and consider their identity. In the future, the audience character design will become a bigger part of the creation process. Is this identity a ghost or a protagonist? A supporting character? There’s likely a spectrum. What relation does this user have to the protagonist? Are they invisible or can they change time? If there are multiple audience members, then a multi-user relationship needs to form. As the story progresses, how will the character and their role change as the story progresses? You need to open up their imagination of how they can act based on their identity.
AK: Directing a production in the ifland platform with your co-workers is another type of role-playing with given social identities. Can you describe your experience on set for the metaverse web drama?
MC: In the current ifland platform, users have multiple personas. So we casted existing users who already have a particular virtual identity. From there, we designed the web drama together. We cast an actor for the main character and selected users for a range of different roles, such as friends and extras. Users then acted spontaneously, and we filmed it. To suddenly become avatars after having worked together in everyday life was really fun. We practiced from remote locations like a theatrical play.
AK: Could you talk a bit more about the casting and development process?
MC: We held avatar auditions under the pretense of selecting extras for this web drama. Around a dozen avatars arrived that evening, and they would act using their expressions, costume look, and voice. Those that were selected were included in the scenario and we began writing the dialogue together. One of the participants said they had a dream to be an actor, but couldn’t pursue it in actual life.
AK: South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT recently established the Metaverse Alliance to set up a metaverse ecosystem in Korea. As one of the first companies taking part, how does SKTelecom plan to continue developing the Metaverse?
MC: South Korea has robust public-private partnerships, especially for telecommunications and the arts. At SK Telecom, our ifland platform is mostly focused on socializing, like Clubhouse using 3D avatars. We can host gatherings or education-related activities. More interestingly, we are cultivating influencers, which are an important part of the metaverse. We are developing the VR and cross-platform versions. The current metaverse hype embodies the increased reception toward digital representation, and the alliance is a product of Korea’s early adoption of new media. The emergence of Cyworld was possible in the infrastructure of a high-speed Internet environment that was faster than other countries. I think Cyworld got me and many others accustomed to creating multi-personas and existing online and more open to adapt to and lead changes in digital culture. In this regard, the the metaverse sparks interest across generations in Korea — not only to the digital native Millennial and Gen Z generations, but also those in their 40s and 50s who have experienced Cyworld and the IT development of Korea.
In ifland as well, people are getting quite used to this idea of making multi-personas. Before it was just in games, but now people are considering multi-personas to be more natural. Within the virtual environment, whether it’s music, video, performance, or films, all these mediums are converging into the metaverse in a dynamic way. People can make their own content using YouTube, Roblox or Minecraft-like platforms, gain fandoms, and become influencers. We see these digitally oriented people who, in many ways, reside in the metaverse, leading the flow of information. Considering the growth of digital assets and the virtual economy, including blockchain, the metaverse is the link between the actual and virtual world.
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