Sense of presence

(by Sofia Scatena)

“Close your eyes and you’re there” This was the invitation to watch the latest fashion film of French brand Louis Vuitton back in December 2013. Starring David Bowie, this fashion film skyrocketed to more than 33 millions views in a couple of weeks. Why?

A masquerade ball in Venice, the suggestions conveyed by dressing up with masks and period costumes, the invitation to visit  – albeit virtually – everybody’s top travel destination in the whole world (yes, it’s Venice). One of the biggest rock star alive, David Bowie, king of transvestism and mutation plus music (HIS music), dance, a gorgeous girl, a fab party, a caravella ship floating away in the venetian sunrise. The recipe of the perfect dream is all there.

It may seem a bit too easy, even obvious what was in the mind of those marketing and communication managers at LVMH. But what I find fantastic is that the only person that seems “real” is the model which archetypically has always embodied the dream. She’s the only one dressed as we do today and not as back in the XVIII century.

The captivation we feel while watching this clip  – which was followed by a few others on the same theme – has a lot to do with the sense of presence, that is the feeling of total immersion we perceive while watching an engaging movie as if the worlds presented were the ones we actually live in, the ones where we recognize our intentions and dreams may be fulfilled. And this feeling is amplified when the platform conveying the video (message) is a digital medium like computers, tablets, smartphones. The deeper the sense of “total immersion” is, the stronger the emotions we feel are.

And this is why we all keep watching and sharing this video.