Against the Rule - Filming in 360

Seit Youtube und Facebook es ermöglichen in 360 Grad Videos anzuschauen, ist ein richtiger Boom ausgebrochen. Wir wollen uns ein paar Gedanken dazu machen anhand des Kurzfilm „Gegen die Regel“ der ZHDK. The title of the film could not be more apt. Everything we know about filmmaking is being revised. Filming in 360 degrees is against the rules of filmmaking.

360° videos are completely changing storytelling. With the freedom of the viewer, we face many new challenges. How do you direct the gaze? What are the means to follow the action in space? How do I write a story in 360? There are a lot of questions to be answered. The students of the Cast/Audiovisual Media specialisation at the Zurich University of the Arts have intensively studied the topic of 360° film in order to be able to realise such a film themselves.

„In der dreiwöchigen Schreibphase haben wir sehr früh angefangen, den 360° Raum mitzudenken. In VR beginnt die Bildgestaltung mit Start des Schreibprozesses. Die Geschichte selber beeinflusst die Umsetzbarkeit.“

Since the viewer can look around freely in the scene, the setting must also be designed down to the last detail. Every object in the scene must be illuminated. But you can't have a spotlight standing around because it would be visible. So you have to use existing light sources. These can be floor lamps, candles, LED panels or other light sources. That's a big challenge, because the scene shouldn't look artificial. Not every location is suitable for filming. Another challenge is the sound. Microphones can't just stand around, they have to be hidden. Since the actors move around the room, not only one microphone is enough, but there have to be several. These different sound tracks then flow together and are mixed. The most difficult part, however, is the direction. In a conventional film, the viewer's full concentration is always on one section of the image. With 360° films, this is not the case and the viewer could miss something. So the director has to bring the attention to one point within the space. Most of the time, the action only takes place at one point and the rest is passive, so the viewer is automatically directed to one point. In many cases, 360° sound is also used. This is also an effective means.

The ZHDK has described the whole production process very well on her blog. It gives a very good idea of the possibilities and challenges. Here findet ihr auch ein Making Of Video dazu. Das ganze Filmthema wird sich noch extrem entwickeln. Vorallem die Kameras müssen qualitativ noch einen Sprung machen. Das wird aber nicht mehr lange dauern. So und nun schaut euch doch noch den gelungen Kurzfilm „Gegen die Regel“ an. Das geht natürlich auch ohne VR Brille. Viel Spass!

Source: ZHDK