SUMMARY
Episode 31
On this episode of Video Marketing Unscripted, David in Garner, NC wants to know: “What is the future of video in a world of AR & VR and how might the co-exist?
Ben begins with discussing Storyboard Media’s own experience doing a 360º video and the limitations of the format, as well as what we learned from the project.
While discussing AR, Ben gives an example of how AR could improve the Biltmore audio tour.
As for how they might co-exist, Ben suggests some ways that AR & VR could work together to “create something fantastical”.
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TRANSCRIPT
00:00 Ben: So my man boobs are out of frame, that’s what you’re telling me. Okay.
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00:08 Ben: Hi, I’m Ben. Welcome to Video Marketing Unscripted, where I answer your video marketing questions completely unprompted. It’s amazing I’m still single. Anthony, what’s our question today?
00:18 Anthony: Well, Ben, today’s question is from David in Garner, and he would like to know, what’s the future of video in the world of AR and VR and how might they co-exist?
00:27 Ben: Interesting question. Well, I’ll start with VR. We actually just completed our first 360 video project for a client and it was a tremendous learning opportunity, I’ll be honest. We went into it knowing that there were limitations, things that we’re used to doing that you can’t do with 360 video, like lighting or audio or even monitoring the shot behind, or having a director stand behind the camera, ’cause with 360 VR, there is no standing behind the camera. We kinda had to craft our entire storyline around what those limitations were, and I will freely admit, our first time through, we completely failed. We thought we knew what we were doing. We thought that having a fly-on-the-wall approach where we had a 360 view at a very static point on a whole bunch of scenes through a college campus would be enough, and it wasn’t. We put the edit together and it just didn’t work. We ended up actually having the camera move, bringing in a host, and actually following that host on a tour, which, the interaction to camera was much, much more improved than just that fly-on-the-wall kinda POV thing we had going before.
01:45 Ben: 360 gives you the opportunity to let people experience something that’s happening around them and it gives them an opportunity also to look around. But you really wanna make sure that you can direct their focus as much as possible, so, by bringing a host into it, we were able to give someone a focal point to kinda key in on but then we built in times for them to be able to kinda look around and experience the space. And I think that was a tremendous learning opportunity for us.
02:18 Ben: As for augmented reality, I think that’s fascinating into itself. I took the audio-guided tour of the Biltmore, which if you haven’t done, I highly recommend. And one of the things that immediately struck me was as I was walking through this space that had been set up historically accurately and in the way that things were, hearing what would have been going on through the audio tour, I thought, “Man, if I had a headset on, that was able to… Or even holding a camera, that was able to show me what I was looking at but then also bring in characters to kind of act out the scenes that they were describing on the audio tour, that would be amazing.” Imagine in your mobile phone, if you could just see that parlor in front of you, but then all of a sudden on your phone, have a couple of characters in period dress walk in and start having tea or whatever it is.
03:08 Ben: So, as for how they might co-exist, there’s certainly a lot crossover between the two. VR and AR are both very much about turning a viewer into an experiencer. It’s all about that kind of immersion in the space. When I think about 360, I automatically go to live action, but some of the best 360 stuff I’ve seen is actually animation. And so, I think there could totally be a way where perhaps live-action 360 video works with maybe animated augmented reality things. So, you can actually take yourself out of a real experience and create a completely fantastical experience, potentially. You’ve got “choose your own adventure” type opportunities with certain prompts, I think. I’m sure the technology exists that you could have options visually laid out before you and then be taken to completely different places that, again, it may not just be about experiencing something real around you, but experiencing something completely unreal, and kinda playing off of that reality of 360 video, and than that complete fantasy ability for augmented reality. So, I don’t know the answer; if I did, we’d totally have a VR/AR spin-off.
04:28 Ben: So, David, I hope that answers your question. If you’ve got a video marketing question that you’d like me to answer, put it in the comments below or on the form on our site. You’re welcome.