Eric R. Williams is an American
screenwriter,
professor,
cinematic virtual reality director, and new media storyteller.[1][2][3] He is known for developing alternative narrative and documentary techniques that take advantage of digital technologies.[4][5]
Williams's narrative research emphasizes collaboration between storytellers and their audience.[2] While teaching at
Ohio University, Williams began combining aspects of traditional
film,
theater, and
literature with emerging communication technologies such as
virtual reality and
360-degree video. In 2020, he and his colleagues wrote a book explaining their techniques, naming this new medium "virtual reality cinema" (or cine-VR).[6]
In the 2000s, Williams worked as a freelance screenwriter and was often hired to write adaptations.[12] Notably, he adapted
Luis Alberto Urrea's anthology Across the Wire in 2003;
Bill Littlefield's novel The Prospect in 2005; and the anthology Voices from the Heartland in 2008. Williams' work on Voices received the "Ohio Arts Council Award of Individual Excellence in Screenwriting" in 2009.[13] These scripts are shared as examples in his book Screen Adaptation: Beyond the Basics.
By 2010, Williams co-directed and co-produced two documentary television series (Redefining Appalachia and Guyana Pepperpot) as well as the documentary Breaking News (featuring
Dianne Rehm,
Walter Cronkite and
Terry Anderson).[14]
Over the course of ten years as a professor, Williams developed three unique concepts for film and television, publishing two books on the topics:[9][15]
After working as a screenwriter, director and producer for eight years, Williams joined the faculty of
Ohio University's Scripps College of Communication in 2005.[16] In addition to a variety of domestic media projects, Williams used his faculty position to work on international media projects in Ukraine, Guyana and Ecuador.[17][18][19]
Williams currently develops virtual reality cinema techniques at Ohio University's Game Research and Immersive Design (GRID) Lab, where he continues to collaborate on a wide variety of non-fiction and narrative-based projects.[20][21]
Cinematic virtual reality
Williams began writing, directing and producing virtual reality experiences at Ohio University's Game Research and Immersive Design Lab in 2016.[22] Williams' first narrative virtual reality project was Re:Disappearing, which he wrote and directed that same year.[11]
In collaboration with cinematographer/editor Matt Love and producer/director Carrie Love, Williams developed 360-degree video into a new medium called they deemed
cinematic virtual reality (or cine-VR, for short).[6] They used cine-VR techniques on the Medicaid Educational Simulation Project.[23] Their cine-VR approach was said to improve cultural self-efficacy in healthcare providers.[24] After three years of research at Ohio University's Game Research and Immersive Design Lab, Williams and the Loves subsequently wrote the book Virtual Reality Cinema: Narrative Tips and Techniques identifying at least four new concepts for telling stories using cine-VR:[6]
Persona Gap
Story Engagement Matrix
Directorial Control vs Audience Agency
Blocking, Framing and Editing unique to cine-VR
The authors explain that cine-VR synthesizes concepts from film, theater, literature, virtual reality and video games.[6] Between 2020 and 2021, Williams wrote and/or directed more than half a dozen cine-VR pieces using these techniques, including For the Love of God and Lost Broken Alone.[14] The latter was a finalist for "Best Use of Sound & Music in XR" at the 2020 Real World XR Awards.[25] Music for the piece was provided by
Moby; Jordan Herron was the immersive sound designer.[26] In 2021, For the Love of God won the "Best Virtual Reality Award" in the New York Nil Gallery International Media Festival and "First Place: Outstanding Virtual Reality Film" in the Short Sweet Film Festival.[27][28]
Williams co-developed the concept of "PRE-ality" (a portmanteau of "prepare" and "reality") while working with emergency room doctors and physical therapists,[20][21] with whom he worked in Columbus, Ohio and San Francisco, California to implement a training experience for medical students.[29] Williams furthered this research in collaboration with Dr. Petra Williams, Northern Arizona University professor of Physical Therapy, and subsequently introduced the concept of PRE-ality at the Virtual Reality and Healthcare Symposium in Washington, D.C. in 2017.[5][21]
PRE-ality uses virtual reality cinema to evoke a sense of déjà vu in the viewer to better prepare them for a reality they have yet to experience.[5] This discovery led to the implementation of a virtual reality training experience for healthcare education.[30]
Works
Williams authored three books: Virtual Reality Cinema (Routledge, 2021 with Matt and Carrie Love), Screen Adaptation (Focal Press, 2017), and The Screenwriters Taxonomy (Routledge, 2017), and edited two others, The Power of Virtual Reality Cinema for Healthcare Training (Routledge, 2021, with John Bowditch) and Media and the Creative Process (Cognella, 2014, with Beth Novak). Williams also wrote and directed for a variety of traditional and new media platforms:[11][14][31]
Cine-VR
Jumper on High Plains Bridge (OPOTA, 2024) – co-writer / director
Oak Street: Domestic in Progress (OPOTA, 2024) – co-writer / director
Pink Slip Issued on Runway Drive (OPOTA, 2024) – co-writer / director
Shots Fired at CW High (OPOTA, 2024) – co-writer / director
Thieves in Harding Park (OPOTA, 2024) – co-writer / director
Wild Bill's Brawl in Indian Hills (OPOTA, 2024) – co-writer / director
The Chet Story (GRID Lab, 2021) – writer / director
The Dion Story (GRID Lab, 2021) – writer / director
For the Love of God (GRID Lab, 2021) – director
He Loves Me (not) (GRID Lab, 2021) – director
Moving in Moving On (GRID Lab, 2021) – director
Diabetes in Appalachia (GRID Lab, 2020) – co-writer / co-director
Living with Addiction (GRID Lab, 2020) – co-writer / associate producer
Lost Broken Alone (GRID Lab, 2020) – writer / director
Re: Disappearing (GRID Lab, 2016) – writer / director
Film and television
Imagining Tomorrow's Entertainment (Wondrium, 2023) – head writer / host
Guyana Pepperpot (Blue Arm Productions, 2010) – series producer / segment director
Breaking News (Blue Arm Productions, 2009) – writer / director
Redefining Appalachia (WOUB-TV, 2009) – series producer
Don't Try This at Home [TV pilot] (American Movie Classics, 2002) – creator / co-producer
Colombo and the Curse of Sorcery Circus [un-produced] (Universal Studios, 1998) – writer
Snakes & Arrows (Blue Arm Productions, 1996) – co-writer / director
Audio Series
TV's New Golden Age (Audible Original, 2021) – writer / host
How to Appreciate Great Movies (Audible, 2020) – writer / host
Falling in Love with Romance Films (Audible Original, 2019) – writer / host
How to View and Appreciate Great Movies (Great Courses, 2018) – writer / host
Books
The Power of Virtual Reality Cinema for Healthcare Training (Routledge, 2021)
Virtual Reality Cinema: Tips and Techniques (Routledge, 2021)
Screen Adaptation (Focal Press, 2017)
The Screenwriters Taxonomy (Routledge, 2017)
Media and the Creative Process (Cognella, 2014)
References
^Dancyger, Ken (2019). Storytelling for Film and Television : From First Word to Last Frame. Milton: Routledge. pp. (back cover).
ISBN978-1-351-24597-5.
OCLC1100010668.
^
abcBinstock, Yoni. (2018). What is Virtual Reality?: Everything You Wanted to Know Featuring Exclusive Interviews With the Leaders of the VR Industry. (pages 46-50) Amazon/Kindle.
^
abWilliams, Eric R. (2017). The Screenwriters Taxonomy : a Roadmap to Collaborative Storytelling. New York, NY: Routledge.
ISBN978-1-315-10864-3.
OCLC993983488.
^Williams, Eric R. (2021). How to View and Appreciate Great Movies. The Great Courses / Audible. pp. Episode #6.
^Williams, Eric R. (2021). TV's New Golden Age. Audible Original. pp. Episode #1.
^Smedley, Arian (August 11, 2005).
"Ukrainian representatives visit Ohio University". International Office of the National University of Kiev-Mohyla Academy Graduate School of Journalism. Retrieved September 12, 2020.