By: Rob Crasco
So the last time I was in New York City for a conference I ducked out for a little while to visit the 9/11 memorial nearby. The Memorial’s twin reflecting pools are each nearly an acre in size and feature the largest man-made waterfalls in North America. I took a walk around one of the reflecting pools that are in the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. I recorded the walk with my Vuze camera held overhead using a Guru 360 gimbal to keep the image level. While taking the long walk around, my attention was focused on weaving in and out of the crowds and maintaining a smooth pace.
At one point a couple of guys approached me asking about the camera. The Vuze VR camera is very unique looking, even for a 360 camera so I get this pretty much every time I have the camera out. I gave them my elevator speech about the camera and they thanked me and left. I finished up my Long walk around the reflecting pool and headed back to the conference.
A week later, I was going through the footage at home picking out what parts to keep and what parts were just too crowded to use, wanting of course to keep the focus on this tremendous monument. That’s when I noticed these guys again, in a “VR-Replay” of the moment, but this time around I spotted them before they spotted me.
Here you can seem them both focused on their phones as I walked past them. Again, I remember nothing of this from the first time around.
Here they both individually notice me with the camera…
…and finally catch up to talk to me.
Here is the full VR video I made in New York:
This is one of the most amazing features to shooting images and video in 360/VR. People focus so much on the fact that you can’t frame a shot, or know where someone is looking they forget 360 captures everything going on. This includes all the things going on that you totally missed while you were there.
As another example, this is a couple of stills of a Quadcopter Drone I noticed in the VR Video “BatFest 360 3D VR Video” By Jim Malcolm (see below).
When I asked Jim if he noticed this he said “That's funny, I didn't even see nor hear the drone while I was there. VR Video really does capture everything.”
Prior to 360/VR the state of the art in capturing moments from an important event is viewing the event through your camera phone, while many around you do the same thing. Now you can put the phones down and let a 360/VR camera record the entire event as it plays out around the camera. Weddings, birthdays and other important moments of your life can now be truly re-experienced in a way never before possible. Set a camera up where a person might naturally be sitting or standing and let it take it all in. Later you can put on a VR headset and take the place where that camera was and see everything play out all around you, including all the things you missed when you were there the first time.
About Rob crasco
Independent Virtual Reality, Virtual World & 360 Video Influencer / Developer / Consultant. Background in computer science and marketing, worked for AT&T, Ziplink, News Corp, and iBasis. Decade of experience in virtual worlds, top 10 rated VR & AR influencer.
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