360 Virtual Reality (360VR) is an opportunity for customers to be on-site digitally, offering an immersive experience that might be the next best thing to being in-person.
In an attention economy where there's more content than time to consume it, 360VR offers an engaging, unparalleled lifelike experience, and amidst a mobile, social and digital landscape saturated with content, 360VR is an important media technology that has the potential for focused, exclusive and emotional experiences. Combining physical interactivity, 360 degrees of immersive space, 2D video, text and graphics, 360VR “hits” in a different way than screen-based media.
My team was commissioned to develop a virtual experience showcasing the science behind energy medical devices. Surgeons joined the corporate team in real time with VR headsets.
The VR experience took surgeons inside research and development and manufacturing facilities to see firsthand the quality control and performance testing that went into the devices they used everyday. In a series of five minute 360VR videos, experts demonstrated the science and efficacy behind these tools.
Feedback
“I was so excited, it was incredible...being in my own home yet transported virtually into our manufacturing site in the USA...it opens up so many doors for opening this experience to people who otherwise would not be able to go [due to] cost and time of sending customers over there...immersive, innovative, easy to follow the instructions, fun, informative."
- Lynda
Production
VR production requires a unique approach that is distinct from a typical video production workflow.
Single Take
To make the viewer feel continuously immersed, it’s important to avoid cuts during a 360VR experience. So, talent needs to nail their delivery in a single take. In our case, scientists were performing complex experiments while talking to camera for up to five minutes, which required many takes!
Focusing Attention When Everything is in Focus
In traditional 2D video production shots are cut together to build sequences that focus the viewer’s attention, and often include establishing wide shots and closeup details. In 360VR since the entire scene is in focus and the viewer can look anywhere at any moment, it’s important to “dress the set” to ensure what you want seen is visible to the camera. 2D video inserts, graphics and text are added to focus attention.
Combining 2D and 360VR
Some talent is captured using 2D cameras and inserted as picture in picture (PiP) into 360VR. This technique is often used to have one character introduce the scene before the 360VR talent begins speaking. 2D closeups are recorded at the same time to be inserted as PiP to show details.
Paint Out the Crew
After capturing all footage in a scene, the crew leaves the set with all the equipment except for the 360VR camera, and remotely records a "clean" still that will later be painted over the rear 180 degrees of the footage, as if the crew was never there!