In early January, Steven King arrived in the Galapagos Islands carrying a pole topped with a Rubik's Cube of lenses. For many onlookers, the creature was an object of curiosity straight out of "Blade Runner." For King, the camera represented the future of videography and storytelling.
King took a moment between projects to explain the all-seeing camera.
Q: What is a 360-degree video rig?
A: To shoot 360-degree video, you must capture the video in all directions. This is accomplished by a special camera rig that, in most cases, is made up of multiple cameras shooting in different directions. We use the Freedom360 and the Freedom360 Explorer. Both use six GoPros that are all connected to the same remote control.
Q: How does it work?
A: We shoot six video files that must be time-synced and stitched together using special panorama-stitching software. We use Autopano Video from Kolor.
Q: What are some the biggest challenges?
A: There are many different camera rigs. Some are better in close proximity; others are better for high-resolution and big landscapes. It just depends on the subject matter.
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You also can see stitching issues inside the seams when the subject moves from one camera to the other. It takes a lot of post-production time and labor to fix these.
Q: What are the ideal types of environments or experiences?
A: First, you need some action or movement. It also helps to have some kind of canopy to give a sense of a "ceiling." But you can shoot in almost any situation.
Q: What does the viewer require to see the footage?
A: The stitched footage is played in a 360-degree video player in the browser, on a mobile app or with virtual-reality glasses.
Q: How far along is the development of the camera?
A: The cameras we used on this project fall into the early-adopter stage. They were difficult to work with, and things went wrong. This summer and later this year, we will see more cameras on the market that are better and easier to work with.
Q: What is the future of 360-degree video?
A: This emerging medium is only going to grow as more people gain access to virtual-reality headsets. The industry expects to sell more than 14 million headsets by the end of the year. We need to learn how to tell better stories, and the technology needs to advance to make the work easier and faster.
Q: Care to share any funny or illuminating anecdotes from your Galapagos video shoot?
A: There were two very stressful moments on this trip. At Kicker Rock, a dive site off San Cristóbal, my stomach was in knots. We had to buy a special underwater housing [unit] that works with six cameras, but the cameras will overheat after about 20 minutes. If just one overheats, we would lose the entire footage.
We had to use multiple divers to make this work. The dive master and underwater photographer would descend to about 60 feet. When they found wildlife, they would signal a diver waiting at about 30 feet, who would send a signal to me. From the dinghy, I would prepare the cameras and start recording. The first diver would take the camera down and pass it off to another diver, who would deliver it to the photographer. The photographer would shoot for 10 minutes and then send the camera back up the chain. The whole process took about 17 minutes, which was safer and faster than a single diver going up and down in those depths.
The other moment was . . . we wanted to get 360 video of a surfer, something I had never tried before. But I was willing to risk the $4,000 gear for this one shot. We hired a water taxi, connected with a local surfer and checked and triple-checked the gear. It took him a few times to get the hang of surfing with an extra five pounds on the front of his board, but the moment I saw him ride the wave, I took my first deep breath of the day.
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