Andrew recently directed and oversaw the post-production of an immersive 360º skydiving video for Intel’s VR-centric press event at CES 2017. “Flying Free Over Moab” was the first experience presented by CEO Brian Krzanich, offering the 250 assembled press and influencers the first-hand experience of jumping from a helicopter and gliding in a wingsuit over the beautiful scenery of Moab, Utah. Other VR experiences included a “volumetric video” demonstration, a live-streamed 360º video from a drone inspection of a solar power plant, an immersive video from an NCAA basketball game, and a teaser of “Arizona Sunshine”, a VR video game pitting gunslingers against zombies.
Filmed in mid-December on location in Moab, the production involved nine 360º camera rigs – from small helmet-mounted arrays to larger digital cinema cameras. Shooting required tight coordination between camera units on the ground and in the air, with some takes filmed from as many as 6 perspectives simultaneously. Post production likewise required closely coordinated teams working in multiple locations to stitch, edit, clean up and color the footage while audio specialists crafted a spatial sound mix to round out the immersion.
The audience wore Oculus Rift CV-1 headsets during the presentation, allowing them to enjoy each experience in their own headsets while Krzanich presented Intel’s vision for VR, AR, and the future of computing. In a blog post after the event, Krzanich expanded on this:
When I look into a VR headset, I see new worlds of opportunity for travel, work, and play. I believe VR will be about far more than playing games. I believe it will radically enrich people’s enjoyment of sports and entertainment by transporting them into the middle of the action. Through the combination of advanced drones, cameras and computer technology, I believe VR has the potential to save lives during search and rescue missions or after natural disasters; and the potential to make millions of people’s workplaces safer by letting employees conduct dangerous inspections from a safe distance.
With any new technology transition, hardware is typically in the market first before the rest of the ecosystem needed to drive the new technology mainstream. VR is no different. What has limited VR from mass adoption so far is available content.
There is more info in the official press release here, and a second video from the event below:
