Most of you are probably packing your bags to go away for the summer. If youre a video enthusiast or are looking for a new offering for your viewers, the 360-degree method of storytelling seems to be all the rage now, thanks to Googles interest in this technology. Perhaps this offers a new way to […]
Most of you are probably packing your bags to go away for the summer. If youre a video enthusiast or are looking for a new offering for your viewers, the 360-degree method of storytelling seems to be all the rage now, thanks to Googles interest in this technology. Perhaps this offers a new way to capture your own holiday?
A few 360-degree videos have started showing up on YouTube, and while the quality and resolution of most of these videos leaves much to be desired, there are a few good ones out there. Dubai360 posted one video last month, which they claim is the world’s first 8K 360-degree video.
360-degree cameras such as the Ricoh Theta and the Kodak SP360 seem to have inspired the production of such videos, and we hear there are more launches such as the Bublcam and Allie in the offing.
There are significant challenges around creating such videos at the moment as they can only be viewed on a Chrome browser or YouTube on Android devices. Editing is also challenging at this point as all spherical shots have to be stretched into a flat rectangular shape what they call the equirectangular format in production lingo. These videos also consume around five times the bandwidth of a traditional YouTube video and one has to insert a Python script into every video. Still, for broadcast professionals, such challenges are not really a deterrent and if they can enhance the viewing experience in sport or live events, it could be appealing.
The fact that Google is backing this and YouTube is looking to bring together 360-degree camera makers to encourage the use of a single format is in itself sufficient reason to give these videos some more thought.
If youre going to make any 360-degree videos, give us a shout. For those who are just looking for some peace and quiet without any gear to complicate it this summer, have a great holiday.