HOW TO APPROACH 360 VIDEO:

PURPOSE:

Why do you want to use 360 Videos? To momentarily WOW an audience? To place someone (immerse) in the middle of the story? To atmospherically enhance a story?

In other words, 360 Video is NOT like producing a regular video. The PURPOSE needs to be clear. 360 Videos can take hours of work that would be wasted if it were only going to be used as a gimmick.

PLATFORM:

Once PURPOSE is defined, then you need to think about the type of platform that you are going to use for distribution. Remember that the focus of this training is on DESKTOP VR and IMMERSIVE VR platforms. For the training tutorials, we produced a Monoscopic 360 video since it will work on both DESKTOP VR and IMMERSIVE VR with either Google Cardboards or Samsung GearVR HMD’s.

Your platform will also determine your point of view which will determine your pre production, production and post-production workflow.

POINT-OF-VIEW:

Once you have identified your PURPOSE and your PLATFORM, then you need to think about POINT-OF-VIEW. Is the viewer a participant in the story? Is the viewer a fly on the wall? Is the viewer moving? Is the viewer not moving? Is the viewer sitting? Is the viewer standing?

Another aspect of POINT-OF-VIEW is the need to predict where most of the action will take place. Remember, with 360 Video you cannot use multiple camera angles to direct the viewer. So you have to consider in advance where the action is. Once you have determine this, then you would have a clearer idea of how and where to place your 360 Video cameras.