Eric R. Williams
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Eric R. Williams is an American screenwriter, professor,
cinematic virtual reality Cinematic virtual reality (Cine-VR) is an immersive experience where the audience can look around in 360 degrees while hearing spatialized audio specifically designed to reinforce the belief that the audience is actually in the virtual environment r ...
director, and new media storyteller. He is known for developing alternative narrative and documentary techniques that take advantage of digital technologies.Binstock, 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. Williams's narrative research emphasizes collaboration between storytellers and their audience. While teaching at
Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...
, Williams began combining aspects of traditional
film A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
,
theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actor, actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The p ...
, and
literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
with emerging communication technologies such as
virtual reality Virtual reality (VR) is a simulated experience that employs pose tracking and 3D near-eye displays to give the user an immersive feel of a virtual world. Applications of virtual reality include entertainment (particularly video games), educ ...
and
360-degree video 360-degree videos, also known as surround video, or immersive videos or spherical videos, are video recordings where a view in every direction is recorded at the same time, shot using an omnidirectional camera or a collection of cameras. During pl ...
. In 2020, he and his colleagues wrote a book explaining their techniques, naming this new medium "virtual reality cinema" (or cine-VR).


Early life

Williams graduated from
Northwestern University Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Charte ...
in 1990 with a Bachelors degree in Radio/Television/Film and a minor in Education. He earned his MFA in Film from
Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...
, directing the feature film ''Snakes and Arrows'' as his thesis. Williams chose Columbia so that he could study writing and producing from James Schamus,
Richard Brick Richard Michael Brick (September 20, 1945 – April 2, 2014) was an American film producer, professor of film at Columbia University, and former Commissioner of New York City’s Mayor's Office of Film, Theatre & Broadcasting. He was born in ...
,
David Shaber David Shaber (1929 – November 4, 1999) was an American screenwriter and theatre producer, who wrote the screenplays for '' The Warriors'', '' Nighthawks'', '' Rollover'', '' Last Embrace'' and '' Flight of the Intruder''. He also wrote the fi ...
and Terry Southern.


Career


Film and television

Williams' first feature film, ''Snakes and Arrows'', opened the door for him to meet
Peter Falk Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the long-running television series ''Columbo'' (1968–1978, 1989–2003), for which he ...
, who hired him to write a ''
Columbo ''Columbo'' () is an American crime drama television series starring Peter Falk as Lieutenant Columbo, a homicide detective with the Los Angeles Police Department. After two pilot episodes in 1968 and 1971, the show originally aired on NBC f ...
'' made-for-tv murder mystery for Universal Pictures / Universal Studios in 1998. He later developed and co-produced a pilot for American Movie Classics called ''Don't Try This At Home''. In the 2000s, Williams worked as a freelance screenwriter and was often hired to write adaptations. Notably, he adapted
Luis Alberto Urrea Luis Alberto Urrea (born August 20, 1955 in Tijuana, Mexico) is a Mexican-American poet, novelist, and essayist. Life Luis Urrea is the son of Alberto Urrea Murray, of Rosario, Sinaloa, Mexico and Phyllis Dashiell, born in Staten Island, New Yor ...
'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. 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). Over the course of ten years as a professor, Williams developed three unique concepts for film and television, publishing two books on the topics: #
Screenwriters taxonomy Inspired by the biological classification system of the Linnaean taxonomy, screenwriter Eric R. Williams developed the Screenwriters Taxonomy in 2017 to create a common language of creative collaboration for filmmakers.  Williams’ central thes ...
# Kortlander-Williams Theme Matrix # Triangle of knowledge


Academic career

After working as a screenwriter, director and producer for eight years, Williams joined the faculty of
Ohio University Ohio University is a Public university, public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confeder ...
's Scripps College of Communication in 2005. 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.  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.


Cinematic virtual reality

Williams began writing, directing and producing virtual reality experiences at Ohio University's Game Research and Immersive Design Lab in 2016. Williams' first narrative virtual reality project was ''Re:Disappearing,'' which he wrote and directed that same year. 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 Cinematic virtual reality (Cine-VR) is an immersive experience where the audience can look around in 360 degrees while hearing spatialized audio specifically designed to reinforce the belief that the audience is actually in the virtual environment r ...
(or cine-VR, for short). They used cine-VR techniques on the Medicaid Educational Simulation Project. Their cine-VR approach was said to improve cultural self-efficacy in healthcare providers. 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: # 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. 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''. The latter was a finalist for "Best Use of Sound & Music in XR" at the 2020 Real World XR Awards.  Music for the piece was provided by
Moby Richard Melville Hall (born September 11, 1965), known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the ...
; Jordan Herron was the immersive sound designer. 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. Williams co-developed the concept of "PRE-ality" (a portmanteau of "prepare" and "reality") while working with emergency room doctors and physical therapists, with whom he worked in Columbus, Ohio and San Francisco, California to implement a training experience for medical students. 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. 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. This discovery led to the implementation of a virtual reality training experience for healthcare education.


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:


Cine-VR

# ''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

# ''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 V pilot' (American Movie Classics, 2002) – creator / co-producer # ''Colombo and the Curse of Sorcery Circus n-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'' (Routledge, 2021) # ''Screen Adaptation'' (Focal Press, 2017) # ''The Screenwriters Taxonomy'' (Routledge, 2017) # ''Media and the Creative Process'' (Cognella, 2014)


References


External links

* #1061641 {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Eric R. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century American screenwriters American male screenwriters Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Northwestern University alumni Ohio University faculty