Virtual reality has been receiving a wide audience, not just in the commercial scene but also from household consumers. The immersive experience that the medium can offer has accelerated the growth of visual storytelling, whether it be live-action or animation. The use of a Head Mounted Display (HMD) for viewing purposes has the constraint of limiting the audience within its field of view, and anything that happens in the story has to be experienced by the viewer in real time and with realism, and it should ensure that the audience should not lose track of where to look so that the action is never missed out. This can be achieved through proper storyboarding.

The progress of the VR story is different when compared to a normal short film or movie. The audience’s presence and interaction define the next action in the story if it is an interactive story, and if it is a 360° video, the audience needs to know where the action is going to take place so that the entire story is unfolded without confusion. The way a storyboard is done for a VR story is not the same as that being followed for a regular frame-based movie. The storyboard artist needs to take the utmost care about the entire 360° of the environment and ensure that the whole set is present and scripted. The actions and triggers should be carefully planned before executing the story. This paper deals with the studies conducted on the topic of storyboarding and animation for VR.

The project first started with understanding the characters, their stories, the inspirations behind them, their lines of franchise, their businesses, and the journey of Disney so far and how it became a leading player in the entertainment industry. It was really helpful to understand the core value behind every franchise in order to retell and extend their stories. At present, Disney not only deals with their own characters and stories but has also acquired other studios and media houses like Pixar, Marvel, Lucas Films, and UTV Software Communications. Thus, the role of its subsidiaries like Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media is to extend these stories through other products. Since all its franchises have different design languages and cater to different groups of audience, it becomes very important to maintain a balance and relation among them without altering the original story.

After studying the stories and characters of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars, the project was followed by a study of existing Disney Stores and Disney Licence Stores all over the world, both their global and local presence. Also, other subsidiaries like Disney Parks & Resorts and Media Networks have been studied to understand how they are using storytelling in their products. During this, it has been observed that they used both methods of extending the existing stories and telling new stories. For example, "Pirates of the Caribbean" was initially a concept for Disney parks, but later it was adapted into a film and game. This study helped with brainstorming and concept generation for the new retail space.

The next phase of the project included a user study, market analysis, understanding and setting a target audience, and a market visit to Disney Licencing Stores. Upon doing all these, goals have been set and followed by the generation of various user scenarios and personas. All the outcomes and findings, design concepts, and themes have been discussed with business heads and vendors. The final phase includes trying to implement new media, interactive installations, and digital solutions for creating a new retail experience. Which involves the study, evaluation, and redesign of various existing interactive products. Also implementing and extending their stories through virtual and augmented reality.

Nested stories are stories within a story. In such a narrative, it can have any number of stories, sub-stories, and secondary stories, and any of these can further have its own plots and sub-plots. Nested stories have been present among us for centuries and can be easily seen in books, movies, TV series, plays, and so on. However, the method of nested loops is used in therapies and persuasive techniques as well.

If we see the common structure of it, sub-stories are often related to a higher-level or main story, but not necessarily directly. Sub-stories can be completely different also, or they might add detail about the back story, providing depth and reason for the main storyline, for example through the use of flashbacks or sometimes flashforwards.

So what is unique about such narratives? It has usually been seen that people become more and more involved in such stories. Using nested stories is effective in drawing the audience in, engaging them in listening, and blocking obstructions from the outside, as they tend to focus more and more on keeping all pieces together and connected. And this ultimately builds up their curiosity. It is really important to complete all stories and give them a reasonable amount of time for setting up, as if all stories have different characters, they might need separate time for buildup or they might be introduced in previous or next stories.