4 TRADITIONAL DIRECTORIAL TECHNIQUES AND CINEMATIC VIRTUAL REALITY: COMPATIBILITY DRIVE AGUUGO Barthelomew Gerald Department of Theatre and Film Studies, University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. Abstract The popularity of Cinematic Virtually Reality has drastically appreciated in recent years. Obviously, this omnidirectional medium, which gives the viewer the liberty to see a movie from various angles of choice, needs the adaptation of traditional film making techniques, hence, this paper seeks to provide new insight into how existing techniques could be adapted to create effective Cinematic Virtual Reality experiences, as well as develop directing techniques that are exclusively for this new medium. To elucidate on the concept of Notion of Presence and, the idea of viewers’ engagement and interaction with film and cinematic storytelling, the Cinematic Virtual Reality medium has been particularly put forward. The work concludes that directors should go beyond the ordinary in designing for productions by exploring the full immersive potentials of the Cinematic Virtual Reality as an evolving technology, in this era of experimentation and sophistication. Keywords: directing; cinematic, virtual reality, immersive Introduction Productions, irrespective of the medium – stage or film, anchor on the use of one common element – space. Space is the podium for expression and communication, while using creative imitation and imagination. This simply implies that space, whether natural or artificial, has a great influence on production design. Though, in more recent times, another kind of space has been identified in the performance medium following technological breakthrough. This new-found space is known as Virtual Reality. The submerging medium of Virtual Reality refers to the presentation of first person using a head-mounted display and headphone that enable the user to experience synthetic settings and surroundings yet have great feelings that interpret a physical presence and sense of belonging towards the world he or she sees. The advent of research into Virtual Reality (VR) dates back to over 40 years ago, yet it only began to receive public acceptance in very recent times. According to Schnippers (2014), The Rise and Fall and Rise of Virtual Reality, which includes an expository section by Robertson and Zelenko (2014), only recently, with the emergence of inexpensive high-powered computer processing and