Virtual Reality Gets Real At the Editors Lounge

The Editors' Lounge recently hosted their monthly educational event at AlphaDogs Post Production in Burbank, CA where attendees got to learn the nuts and bolts of what it takes to deliver a successful Virtual Reality project. The evening consisted of 4 leading companies in the VR industry with discussions and demonstrations being given in a hands-on informal style setting.

Chris Healer, CEO/CTO of The Molecule led a very agnostic discussion regarding software and rigs for post workflow on Virtual Reality projects, including the pro's and cons of the most common format used known as Lat Long and how it utilizes existing tools. A large part of the discussion included rules Healer has discovered about editing and storytelling that touches upon a lot of film history topics along with an examination of what 360 filmmaking augments against black and white, sound, stereoscopic and HFR. Healer also hit upon many seemingly simple tools that plainly, just don't exist yet in the infancy of Virtual Reality. It was really a great group of people with thoughtful questions and enthusiasm, said Healer. I was glad to be part of it. I'm always surprised to see where everyone is at with VR; it's such a broad new frontier.

Stephen Fromkin, Founder and Partner of TALESPIN, spoke about the producing side of VR content. Topics included technical and creative challenges, workflow, camera system choices and management of VR production. Operating in stealth for the past year, TALESPIN has already been lending a hand to overcoming the challenges for some of the well-known players in VR. Fromkin explains, It is helpful to view live-action 360 video capture for VR in a visual effect workflow which begins with capturing assets properly on set. This provides a good frame of reference for the amount of time, expertise and financial resources required to complete the project at a professional level.

Chris Timpson and John Hendicott, Directors and Co-Founders of Aurelia Soundworks, presented their full 360 sound workflow encompassing capture, sound design, mixing and delivery. In particular, the focus of the evening was on the advantages and disadvantages of different ambisonic microphones and how to best capture sound on location for 360 mixing. The duo showed how to set up a session in Reaper using basic ambisonic mixing tools and how to map sound to the 360 scene using Aurelia's mapping grid. Tips on how to work with stereo sources and reverb effects and how to deliver spatial audio in various formats were also demonstrated. Timpson comments, We really enjoyed the opportunity to share our knowledge of spatial audio with the group and are excited to see how people start working with the new format.

Virtual Reality guru, Lucas Wilson, Producer at Jaunt VR and Founder/Executive Producer of Supersphere Productions gave a complete overview of the Virtual Reality workflow from start to finish. Lucas familiarized the audience with the terminology of this fast growing new medium explaining how things like stitching , head tracking and Field of View (FOV) play an important role when producing a successful Virtual Reality project followed by hands-on demonstrations. President and CEO of AlphaDogs and creator of the Editors' Lounge, Terence Curren comments, This was an enlightening event. There are so many new things to consider for VR production and post that add to our already existing toolsets. Fortunately, things have come a long way since I first saw VR workflows. They are now starting to become clear.

The next Editors' Lounge will be the Pre-NAB panel discussion on Friday, March 25, 2014 at Key Code Media. RSVP is required to attend. http://www.editorslounge.com

About the Editors' Lounge: The Editors' Lounge is a hands-on seminar for industry professionals. Each month, scores of professionals in the production and post-production industries exchange ideas, discuss trends and learn about new technologies; allowing editors to have their questions addressed objectively. To learn more visit http://www.editorslounge.com

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