documentary and current affairs storytelling using 360 video – the possibilities and the pitfalls

17
NEWS LABS Documentary and current affairs storytelling using 360 video – the possibilities and the pitfalls. Zillah Watson, Peter Boyd Maclean With R&D and BBC Connected Studio

Upload: bbc-news-labs

Post on 28-Jul-2015

472 views

Category:

News & Politics


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

NEWS LABS

Documentary and current affairs storytelling using 360 video – the possibilities and the pitfalls.

Zillah Watson, Peter Boyd Maclean

With R&D andBBC Connected Studio

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

Back to the early days of photography and film…

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

VR documentary and current affairs storytelling using 360 footage

Zillah Watson Editor, BBC R&D

Peter Boyd Maclean Film-maker

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

Scratch Video: Blue Monday – Duvet Brothers

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

The future: transforming the experience of film

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

Our first attempts at filming – “The fear of heights”

• Could we tell a story using 360 footage to enhance the experience?• How could we direct the viewer to the action?• Could we cut a sequence without fading to black?• Could we include a piece to camera and an interview (without cut-aways)?

http://www.bbcnewslabs.co.uk/2015/02/24/immersive-news-and-current-affairs

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

Breaking out of the frame: thinking spherically

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

Which stories will work best in 360?

Location – a sense of space, being able to look around, get the fuller picture

Presence – helping your audience understand the story better, and feel heightened sense of emotion/empathy

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

But…

• Choosing your current affairs/documentary story… how much do you want to dwell on human misery

• Might presence be too much in some situations?

• Missing the action…how do you draw the audience’s attention to important things?

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

Developing a new grammar of film-making

• Camera angles to evoke presence – feeling part of the picture• Perspectives - voyeur or part of the action?• Camera movements (sickness)• Disembodiment• Camera angles – chest height?• Close ups• Cutaways• Length of shots• Presenter/interviews• Montage

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

Living the Dream – prototyping VR’s storytelling possibilities

In collaboration with Dr Peter Passmore, Computer Science Lecturer, Middlesex University

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

Practical issues still being understood – filming and sound

• Where do you hide the crew/kit?

• Lighting

• Safety

• Recording sound

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

Editing/post-production

• Laborious work flow

• File management

• Stitching is time consuming

• Editing on a flat screen for VR

• Editing 360 sound

But with enough post-production time you can achieve impressive results

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

Technology is not quite ready…

• Camera systems are far from ideal• Video dynamic range: shots inevitably

contain very bright areas was well as dark• Frame rate:

• Capture: “at least 60fps” ??• Display: “at least 100fps”?

• Stereoscopic• Sound• Headsets• Head/body tracking• User interaction?

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

The VR demo problem..

NEWS LABS BBC 2015

Further viewing/reading

• VRSE app – for Android or IOS (Chris Milk films eg Clouds Over Sidra)• Jaunt demos• Google Cardboard/Occulus demos• Felix and Paul eg Cirque du Soleil (Samsung Gear demos)• Nonny de la Pena/Immersive Journalism

• Stanford VR Lab • How immersive is enough? A meta-analysis of the effect of immersive technology

on user presence. Cummings, J.J., Bailenson, J.N. (in press). Media Psychology.

[email protected]

[email protected]

NEWS LABS

Thanks

[email protected]

[email protected]

www.BBCNewsLabs.co.uk

@BBC_News_Labs

With R&D andBBC Connected Studio