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OBJECTIVES

  • Collect and Document examples of immersive video content for VR currently being created across online and mobile platforms.
  • Document and practice workflow/s for capturing, editing and distributing 360 degree video content.
  • Experiment with video transition techniques for immersive video. Connect techniques to storytelling and metaphors.
  • Develop an independent video projects.

SPRING SEMESTER 2016
Cameron Moore & Ben Rifken

Intention
Our high-level goal throughout this project has remained simple: to fully understand immersive video — this giant technological beast that rose from the ashes of its first attempt in the 90’s. By the end of the semester we aimed to understand the technology and the necessary tools, to create examples of VR video and a video series  documenting what we learned.

 

Research

Survey of Existing Content
First, we searched the web for video-based VR content — Including  YouTube, Facebook groups, blogs, company ad campaigns, apps, and gaming platforms. We felt it was crucial to first gauge what the industry was doing with this tool before we could decide how we’d be able to use it differently.

Tools and Workflows
Next, we surveyed what tools were available. While companies rushed to push out their own tech, we stayed up to date, checking blogs and watching tutorials. Samsung, Facebook, GoPro, Google — all creating their own VR cameras. We were most interested in the tools that would be readily available at a reasonably low cost

This is why we purchased and worked with a Ricoh Theta S — a two node (two, opposite-facing lenses)1080p camera with a simple UI, a low price, and fast learning curve. Of course, we saw VR as a scalable technology, just like the rest of our equipment. While the Theta software offered simple options for converting and uploading our footage, we knew that we would need two things

  1. When we were ready to build a rig that holds up to 6 GoPro’s for the highest possible resolution, we would need software to sync and stitch this footage together.
  2. Since we want to apply, our existing knowledge of video production to VR, we needed to learn the entire post production workflow

Our research concluded that the available stitching tools were expensive ($500-

$800), as there are only a few companies providing these tools

Since we were primarily focused on exploring a workflow with the Ricoh Theta, which had a native software that stitched the footage automatically, we moved on to a tool for adding graphics and titles. Skybox, a small software company, happened to create an After Effects/Premiere plugin called Skybox Mettle that breaks down VR equirectangular footage. This is a stretched image with a 2:1 aspect ratio. It would turn this image to a cube, allowing the editor to move around inside the footage to make edits and add assets.

To learn more about the software we spoke with CEO of skybox for a conversation about VR in general as well as the specific applications of the plugins. We mapped out every step of the process from pre-production to post. Our last step was the 360 metadata tool, a very simple program that added the necessary metadata for YouTube and Facebook to encode the 360 footage.

To learn more about how the tool works, check out our tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAXrO5IOzf0

Method

Once we completed our research, we were itching to shoot some footage. We generated test footage from all over the US, from Indiana to Austin, TX to Lake Tahoe. While shooting we explored a couple of our own rigging ideas. One of which was to rig a small light stand to the back of a backpack. We concluded that the most versatile and least expensive option is to buy a small GoPro tripod. This allowed us to attach the camera onto a backpack for smooth POV footage as well as the ability to leave the camera in a static shot basically anywhere. We learned that handheld footage is possible, but not worth it, as the bottom of the camera is cropped creating a jarring “chopped” effect on the footage. This is because at the images bottom, all of the footage was tightly wrapped and stretched. To see some examples of what we shot, check out the TV Lab YouTube Channel.

 

Next Steps

Our next steps are to find a cheap and efficient stitching software so we can produce  higher resolution footage. While the Theta is a great starter camera, it is not a professional, long term solution. It does not have high enough quality cameras to compete with the ever-increasing quality of the viral content today. By adding more cameras and stitching, there is no limitation to how much quality we can get from our VR footage. Once we have this, we are looking into VR/Drone rigging setups. What are the best/most widely used drone rigs and what cameras are supported? What are the cropping guidelines when shooting aerial VR footage and what applications might it have for mainstream media?