Class 2: 360 Environment + Notes from Reading

For our second assignment we were asked to record 60 seconds of an environment that would work well in a 360 video. A place that has movement and takes all planes in to consideration (x, y and z). Ashley, Oriana and I decided to travel to Bryant Park's Ice Skating Rink.  As shown in the video below, there is some great movement of the skaters moving in a circular motion around the camera, as well as the towering buildings and trees add some visual "height" to the piece.

Article: In a Blink of a Mind

After watching the second cut outlined in the article above (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPhdLz2Ebfw), there are a couple of notes that I want to highlight that I think worked really well:

  1. The simple use of attention grabbing sounds, makes you look for where the sound is coming from. This seems to be an affective tool to draw the attention of the viewer
  2. In the gondola scene, there was only one individual that you could see the face of in the scene, everyone else had their back turned to the camera.  Because of this, I was immediately interested in watching the individual where I could see her face, and after doing a 360 look around, I found myself fixed on her.  This could also be a great way to draw the eye of the viewer in a VR film.

Article: Concepts and Ideas

This was a really interesting article for this point that she highlight (something I struggled with in our first assignment in this VR class):

Screen-Shot-2017-02-07-at-11.24.39-PM.png

What this picture shows is that as you go from scene to scene, if the viewer is watching the hiker climb the glacier and the next frame will be lined up in that same orientation as shown in the next shot.  In the second shot, this may not be where you want the viewer to be focusing on.  That being said, it is very important to plan out the exact shots before going out with the camera.

Video: Getting Real with Virtual Reality

Steps for building a Virtual Reality Story:

  1. What's the potential story? Take away? What are other ways I can tell the story?
  2. Who is the visitor? What are they able to do? What perspective?
  3. Rules of the Universe? Inhabit another character. Can I walk away?
  4. Build