Shamans Documentary: Creating an immersive adventure into the unknown with Mistika Technology

Published On: August 2nd, 2023

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Captured in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest, Shamans is an immersive documentary that shows the ancestral knowledge of the Siona Ecuadorian indigenous community and their spiritual rituals. This VR 180 experience was extensively created with Mistika Technology by VRO Films, a Latin American Production Studio and DeoVR, the renowned VR video player.

Crafting the VR 180 Experience: Emphasizing the Power of Storytelling

Shamans also known as healers or the one who sees are intermediaries between the physical and spiritual world and have special abilities such as healing or are most likely to be spiritually in tune with unseen dimensions. A few years ago, the Vega brothers, Diego and Daniel, started to plan to make an immersive documentary about this very interesting community and their traditions.

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In their pursuit of encountering Shamans, Diego and Daniel explored various regions in Ecuador, from the coastal areas to the highlands and the eastern part of the country. However, it wasn't until a few months ago that they ventured deep into the heart of the Amazon jungle to connect with the Siona community.

We had visited several communities across Ecuador on numerous occasions, but we felt compelled to delve into the Amazonian wilderness and meet the Siona community, explained Daniel Vega, CEO of VRO Films.

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For the filming of this VR documentary, the Vega brothers teamed up with the team at Deo VR, embarking on an enigmatic and thrilling adventure. Traveling all the way from Chile, Daniel and Diego met up with the Deo VR team at Quito Airport in Ecuador and together continued a 15-hour journey, finally arriving at a remote location in the heart of the Amazon jungle the ancestral home of the Siona community.

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After meeting the Shamans of Siona, they quickly realized there were so many incredible stories to share. For them, creating a documentary in VR 180 was the only way to go. We decided on this format because we thought it was the best way to offer a truly immersive Stereo 3D experience. We also wanted to make sure the storytelling was front and center so people could feel like they were right there with us on this amazing adventure into the unknown, highlighted Daniel.

The Power of Natively Integrated Workflows

The post-production journey began with Mistika VR, leveraging their experience with the comprehensive alignment tools and B&W Anaglyph feature gained from numerous small personal projects in the past. However, the Shamans Documentary posed a unique undertaking, surpassing previous endeavors in both scope and ambition.

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As the project unfolded, Diego and Daniel faced the challenge of handling a substantial amount of footage for editing, exceeding their initial expectations. We relied on Mistika VR to fine-tune the lenses and rectify any parallax issues in the images. However, given the extensive number of scenes, we made the decision to switch the output mapping of our footage to an equidistant fisheye mode. This allowed us to export our stitched images and smoothly transition to Mistika Boutique, Daniel elaborated.

Embracing the capabilities of Mistika Boutique

Being their first experience working with Mistika Boutique, they immediately delved into numerous video tutorials in order to become familiar with the tools. In Mistika Boutique, we found it incredibly convenient to manage our extensive footage. The infinite Timespace provided us with the fle

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