Jimmy

The form factor is great... I hope they carry on this range

What was the moving object.... a tectonic plate?
F1.2 on a 50mm is about 2" of focus leeway!

Currently working with BBC on audio integration for VR - they're taking it very seriously especially nature programming.

Maybe, but consider this from The Great Train Robbery, 1903
"The final shot of a gun being fired toward the camera had a profound effect on audiences. As cinema was in its infancy, many people who saw the film thought that they were actually about to be shot."

It's early days but I do think narrative VR will emerge as a new genre that someday may even become the dominant one. We're still in the early stages. Sort of like when radio shows were first adapted for television and you just had folks reading in front of microphones. The design language that needs to be developed is how do you direct attention in the narrative and how do you help people have the experience when they are in an environment where they perhaps can't move around that much. I think there are ways around some of the production limitations, at least for mid-size and big productions with virtual sets, 3D environments or even the stitching together of environments that are shot conventionally, based shooting and relighting an entire room while only capturing 120 degrees at a time for example. I think the next big breakthroughs in this space will be VR narratives that supplement traditional storytelling. Imagine a bonus section of House of Cards where you could explore the White House for example or imagine a move like Inside Out where you could sort of go on the journey yourself.
If you really want to bend your head imagine what it would be like to attempt to tell narrative stories with augmented reality. Or leveraging the potential social aspects of this technology to create shared narrative experiences. Think a virtual version of Sleep No More, an interactive theatre experience. http://www.sleepnomore.com/
I'll be paying a lot of attention to both of these realms, I think they will be huge and I highly recommend that if you ever get a chance to try these experiences that you should. Even Google Cardboard is fantastically cool.

I've spent the last few months now really getting involved in VR... Learning everything I can and testing all the top (and low end) gear. My end goal is in the app side of things... But I wanted to make a post about 360 video and where I see VR filmmaking going.
VR is still very much in it's infancy and the tech is nowhere close to perfect, pixels are easy to make out and the heavy headset, tethered to a large computer*, is not the most comfortable way to be entertained (*Vive and Oculus)... But the magic of VR is clear the minute you put a headset on. It is a stunning experience and really does go some way to tricking your brain into feeling like you are in another world... Even senses like movement and touch can be tricked.
The first experience I had was in Oculus, with a game of sorts called "Life of Lon".... After floating around in the sky for a while, the spaceship I was in suddenly nose dived towards the ocean... I literally clung onto the desk in front of me (in the real world) as the sense of speed and dropping from the sky was incredibly real. This was when it struck me that VR as a narrative means will be huge. That sense of immersion is so well suited to certain genres.
My first experience of narrative VR was a trailer for Insidious 3... It is creepy as hell and the PERFECT use of the format... The feeling of something behind you or in your peripheral vision is palpable. They are also clever in their visual and audio cues to guide you to look in the right places... Essential for a 360 experience.
This brings me onto 360 video as a narrative tool.... For almost everything other than the first person view done so well with insidious... It is just a massive gimmick. It is nauseating, unnatural and, worst of all, boring. Most of the films on the Oculus video app are misusing the tech badly, making you swing wildly around, looking for the action. Narrative needs direction, 360 video takes that out of the equation, unless in very clever hands. The other downside is that production suffers, you can no long have lights, boom mics, dollies, cranes etc.
My view for the future of this tech is a 270 degree, ultra wide format that allows you to sit in a normal chair... look all the way left, right, up and down... This would still provide complete immersion, but allow for the so called "4th wall" to remain in place, so lighting, directing, sound etc become a little less stressful, allowing for far better production values.
Anyway, just some thoughts on what I think to be an amazing tech... I urge all of you who have yet to experience it to try and find a way. It is only going to get better and better.
 

C-log and Wide DR has pretty much the same DR. Both way higher than a cellphone.

60fps... 4:2:2  high bit rate. 

I've done an hour on Vive without any nausea or discomfort.... the latency and comfort is great ... though Gear, and especially cardboard, are uncomfortable after a while.
The tech, latency and headset comfort will get better and better though... 

Try it... then you'll understand this is far, far different to 3D films 

I've spent the last few months now really getting involved in VR... Learning everything I can and testing all the top (and low end) gear. My end goal is in the app side of things... But I wanted to make a post about 360 video and where I see VR filmmaking going.
VR is still very much in it's infancy and the tech is nowhere close to perfect, pixels are easy to make out and the heavy headset, tethered to a large computer*, is not the most comfortable way to be entertained (*Vive and Oculus)... But the magic of VR is clear the minute you put a headset on. It is a stunning experience and really does go some way to tricking your brain into feeling like you are in another world... Even senses like movement and touch can be tricked.
The first experience I had was in Oculus, with a game of sorts called "Life of Lon".... After floating around in the sky for a while, the spaceship I was in suddenly nose dived towards the ocean... I literally clung onto the desk in front of me (in the real world) as the sense of speed and dropping from the sky was incredibly real. This was when it struck me that VR as a narrative means will be huge. That sense of immersion is so well suited to certain genres.
My first experience of narrative VR was a trailer for Insidious 3... It is creepy as hell and the PERFECT use of the format... The feeling of something behind you or in your peripheral vision is palpable. They are also clever in their visual and audio cues to guide you to look in the right places... Essential for a 360 experience.
This brings me onto 360 video as a narrative tool.... For almost everything other than the first person view done so well with insidious... It is just a massive gimmick. It is nauseating, unnatural and, worst of all, boring. Most of the films on the Oculus video app are misusing the tech badly, making you swing wildly around, looking for the action. Narrative needs direction, 360 video takes that out of the equation, unless in very clever hands. The other downside is that production suffers, you can no long have lights, boom mics, dollies, cranes etc.
My view for the future of this tech is a 270 degree, ultra wide format that allows you to sit in a normal chair... look all the way left, right, up and down... This would still provide complete immersion, but allow for the so called "4th wall" to remain in place, so lighting, directing, sound etc become a little less stressful, allowing for far better production values.
Anyway, just some thoughts on what I think to be an amazing tech... I urge all of you who have yet to experience it to try and find a way. It is only going to get better and better.
 

I'm excited as well by the potential vr has. I've been playing around just with google cardboard. I was watching some simple video clips of my son taken on my iphone. When played in the vr player with cardboard, it felt like i was there reliving the memory.
What i am most excited about 360 VR for family videos is perspective! Normally my videos are of my son or wife for instance. I am not in the video since im filming. With the ability to capture in 360, i can follow my son like normal, but if my son or wife or myself wants to watch it, lets say a few years from now. I/she/he can decide to watch watch what they're doing or watch the other people who were there.
It's funny looking at old photographs of myself when i was a kid. What the photograph shows might be me in front of a monument, but what i was actually seeing while the shutter sprung was the person with the camera, but i don't have that memory anymore. Only the photo, but, if you shot in 360. You could have both! 
I'm excited that by christmas there will be a couple affordable 360 cameras that will be out. The nikon action camera and the vuze camera are the two I'm most looking forward to. 
For narrative, I agree with you that for 360 fov is too much. It only works if you have a swivel chair and there is usually too much to focus on, so it's difficult as a filmmaker to have you audience look where you want them to, so they don't miss it. Also transitions will be a mess.  I think 180 FOV is where filmmakers should begin with for the reasons you mentioned. You still feel present with the VR experience, but you don't feel like you are missing something that could be behind you. And you won't look like a total idiot if you are using vr on a plane or in public. 

Yeah... it certainly isn't gonna replace a cinema experience of something like a romantic comedy.... it will be genre specific, for sure. Sci-fi , action and horror seem the perfect genres... as well as the really good imax "experience" films. I think Pixar are already on the case too.... though a world full of kids in vr headsets is a worrying thought!
BTW... Did you see the news today that imax and Google have paired up to create what they call the first cinematic 3d 360 camera.... I can only imagine the price of that!
Now go load up insidious on your cardboard.... headphones on... time to get scared!

Thanks jimmy, very interesting points you make. I agree about the 270-degree fov. If VR tries to do away with a century of cinematic language it won't have a place in live action narrative. 
We have an IMAX nearby and I love seeing 3D epics there. Prometheus and Star Wars 7 were mind blowing. But on a smaller screen, even a cinema screen, 3D doesn't work imo. It needs that full fov element. So I agree with you , for me that's what VR offers narrative film - immersion. And only tasteful, appropriate use of viewer directed attention when the story calls for it. 
There is no doubt in my mind VR is here to stay. For games clearly, but also for certain factual stuff like fly on the wall docs there is huge potential. As the tech and language evolves and becomes widespread it will bleed into narrative fiction. I think the big unknown is wether people will actually want to wear headsets to watch TV drama etc. If not it may just become a parallel medium mainly used for games and big sci fi films, but personally I think there's huge potential for it to enhance and build upon existing cinematic language rather than turn it upside down.
New tech is always met with suspicion and naysayers, but filmmakers of any sort would be foolish to remain in denial. VR is huge and will take a long time to grow in narrative cinema but only because it opens up such a huge new palette of possibilities. For the immediate future I think it's main benefit for films will be to make 3D a worthwhile experience in the home, but over time viewer interactivity will undoubtedly bleed into cinema and that can only happen successfully through trial and error and a kind of rebellious approach to, but respect for, the long established language of film.
Right I'm off to buy a cardboard for my iPhone!

To play devil's advocate... They probably don't want a bunch of bricked cameras to deal with, customer service wise. Also, the hack may have alerted them to security issues that could lead competitors to see their code and ideas.
Thankfully, I didn't update.... So hack away folks, hack away.

I've spent the last few months now really getting involved in VR... Learning everything I can and testing all the top (and low end) gear. My end goal is in the app side of things... But I wanted to make a post about 360 video and where I see VR filmmaking going.
VR is still very much in it's infancy and the tech is nowhere close to perfect, pixels are easy to make out and the heavy headset, tethered to a large computer*, is not the most comfortable way to be entertained (*Vive and Oculus)... But the magic of VR is clear the minute you put a headset on. It is a stunning experience and really does go some way to tricking your brain into feeling like you are in another world... Even senses like movement and touch can be tricked.
The first experience I had was in Oculus, with a game of sorts called "Life of Lon".... After floating around in the sky for a while, the spaceship I was in suddenly nose dived towards the ocean... I literally clung onto the desk in front of me (in the real world) as the sense of speed and dropping from the sky was incredibly real. This was when it struck me that VR as a narrative means will be huge. That sense of immersion is so well suited to certain genres.
My first experience of narrative VR was a trailer for Insidious 3... It is creepy as hell and the PERFECT use of the format... The feeling of something behind you or in your peripheral vision is palpable. They are also clever in their visual and audio cues to guide you to look in the right places... Essential for a 360 experience.
This brings me onto 360 video as a narrative tool.... For almost everything other than the first person view done so well with insidious... It is just a massive gimmick. It is nauseating, unnatural and, worst of all, boring. Most of the films on the Oculus video app are misusing the tech badly, making you swing wildly around, looking for the action. Narrative needs direction, 360 video takes that out of the equation, unless in very clever hands. The other downside is that production suffers, you can no long have lights, boom mics, dollies, cranes etc.
My view for the future of this tech is a 270 degree, ultra wide format that allows you to sit in a normal chair... look all the way left, right, up and down... This would still provide complete immersion, but allow for the so called "4th wall" to remain in place, so lighting, directing, sound etc become a little less stressful, allowing for far better production values.
Anyway, just some thoughts on what I think to be an amazing tech... I urge all of you who have yet to experience it to try and find a way. It is only going to get better and better.
 

To play devil's advocate... They probably don't want a bunch of bricked cameras to deal with, customer service wise. Also, the hack may have alerted them to security issues that could lead competitors to see their code and ideas.
Thankfully, I didn't update.... So hack away folks, hack away.

To play devil's advocate... They probably don't want a bunch of bricked cameras to deal with, customer service wise. Also, the hack may have alerted them to security issues that could lead competitors to see their code and ideas.
Thankfully, I didn't update.... So hack away folks, hack away.

One still frame from unedited video shot in Cinestyle: 
Flat cat and two grade attempts.
 



More frames
Cinestyle ungraded and graded, 1DX mark II frame capture.
 
 

What sort of stuff do you shoot? Does DR trump AF/60fps?
I'm having a similar debate with myself.... I'm hoping Canon just give us C-log before I need to make my decision.... Other than C-log and 10bit, it is more or less my perfect camera.

what do u guys think of this?

But the 1DC "IS" nothing to go by. They are different cameras with different senors.

btw... is filming someone welding/cutting metal the high end equivalent of making a "cat in the garden" demo video?

I am starting to get more and more involved in VR and 360 work and have been running a few tests on Oculus and Samsung Gear.... Really cool tech that I will talk about soon in another post, with regard to VR narrative work.
What I wanted to discuss here though is the ability to watch 2D video within the VR theatres in Oculus Cinema.... At first I was sceptical, but it really is like viewing a film in a real theatre (or a theatre on the moon, or a theatre for ants!).
The sense of scale is unique and really effective. The way the light from the film changes the theatre just adds to the feeling. I think this will soon be a bone fide way to start testing your movies for theatre release and could be a really simple way to get test audiences for your film.
As with all things VR, explaining, showing videos etc just doesn't do it justice.... If you can get hold of a Gear VR or Oculus, be sure to check it out... It is stunning and sure to play a big part in the future of film consumption.
I found this video below that gives quite a good glimpse into how it all works... But really, you need to try this out for yourself... Exciting times!
 
 

I am starting to get more and more involved in VR and 360 work and have been running a few tests on Oculus and Samsung Gear.... Really cool tech that I will talk about soon in another post, with regard to VR narrative work.
What I wanted to discuss here though is the ability to watch 2D video within the VR theatres in Oculus Cinema.... At first I was sceptical, but it really is like viewing a film in a real theatre (or a theatre on the moon, or a theatre for ants!).
The sense of scale is unique and really effective. The way the light from the film changes the theatre just adds to the feeling. I think this will soon be a bone fide way to start testing your movies for theatre release and could be a really simple way to get test audiences for your film.
As with all things VR, explaining, showing videos etc just doesn't do it justice.... If you can get hold of a Gear VR or Oculus, be sure to check it out... It is stunning and sure to play a big part in the future of film consumption.
I found this video below that gives quite a good glimpse into how it all works... But really, you need to try this out for yourself... Exciting times!