free·dom

ˈfrēdəm/

noun

noun: freedom

the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint.

Interestingly, that is the official definition from Google search. If I were to champion the case of virtual reality and immersive experience, I would definitely focus on the spirit and experience of “Freedom”. Who doesn’t want to be free! Free to think and free to Experience and Free to explore what you want!

There is dramatic difference between linear content as we see it today using the various mediums available to us and the new VR/360 content. Unlike the linear videos, the 360-degree videos allow the users to go beyond the edge of the frame. It opens up an entirely different paradigm for user experience. 360 provides an incremental freedom to the viewer. I think if one has to put it in terms of economic value, this is where the value is. The exponential benefit comes from becoming an active viewer, enjoying the freedom of experiencing what you want to experience beyond the edges of the frame. How would you arrive at a valuation for that experience?

In the traditional linear video/content production, you are pretty much stuck with what the director and the producer want you to experience. If you don’t like his narrative, you have the choice to switch off the stream of content or put in on DVR so that when you have had a few more beers perhaps you will try to engage with the content. Those are your choices. Pretty much! Take it or leave it.

With 360 immersive experiences, that paradigm can shift dramatically. The artist can design and create simultaneous experience snippets that allow the user to move from one experience to the other while watching that feed. For an instance, sit back and imagine that you are watching a 360/vr experience about the hunting habits of Lions in the plains of Serengeti. You would have seen many of these types of programs on a linear format on discovery or Smithsonian. On a linear content landscape, you are restricted to the action sequences that the director wants you to see. You will see the exact frames and sequences as the director intended for you to see.

If a VR artist were to create the novel experience of Serengeti, you could have the lion hunting scene in the main channel, but also weave in other elements of the 360 experience such as the behavior of the primates on a tree when the lions are starting their careful yet deliberate steps on the hunting game or ever for the bird lover the experience snippet could be as simple as the birds that are showing different behaviors to alert the animals of the lurking danger in the bush. With the 360, you make the choice which experience snippet you want to be engaged in as the main drama unfolds on the center channel! You have the freedom to immerse yourself in the primate behavior or other aspects of the ecosystem as presented by the content curator. You are no longer required to see the actual action sequences of the lions hunting. Now That’s a choice you didn’t have before!

As the VR/360 artistry evolves, the director or the content curator will have always have the sneaky powers to draw you back into the main experience by a combination of color and sound and other powerful techniques. Perhaps the lions roaring louder on the main channel will tempt your senses to see what is happening there and move your attention back to the center narrative. Sound will increasingly play a very important role when it comes to curating and post processing of VR/360 video.

This is no longer in the realms of science fiction any more. 360-degree cameras are essentially cameras on rigs that have multiple lenses or cameras assembled together. These cameras have powerful fisheye lenses to capture the different panoramic views and angles. In linear content making, you may have multiple cameras with different angular feeds. The producer is essentially controlling the view that he/she wants you to see by switching from one feed to the other. In the 360-degree mode, the artist or producer stitches the different feeds of the multiple fisheye lenses to provide you various experience engagements. When you as the user shift your head movement via your VR gear, the little accelerometer/gyro can quickly calculate the direction and speed of your movement and showcase you the content/experience intended for that angle. You are no longer a “passive” consumer of the content but by experiencing the content via your VR gear you are actively controlling finite elements of your user experience. Experiencing the freedom to immerse in what you want to. That is indeed pretty powerful. Stitching the VR content and postproduction of quality VR content is going to be an art by itself! Companies such as nextVR are going to be pioneers in this craft as they begin to broadcast sports shows in immersive medium in the near future. New and emerging companies such as video-stitch are going to make 360/vr streaming possible very soon.

I believe that the fundamental nature of the content itself is bound to change as we transition into the medium of 360/VR based story telling. Although a lot has been written and developed around gaming in VR, I think that it needn’t be only gaming to provide the user with the best immersive experience.

Perhaps your VR headset will be the humble device that can provide you the solitude that you need to escape for a few minutes from your busy schedule during the day. Can you imagine experiencing the calmness of the bamboo forest, a small Zen garden with sounds of water flowing and chirping of birds as you put on your headsets and stroll in the gardens of Kyoto? Or perhaps you let your mind wander as you take in the beauty of the vast Mongolian grasslands with the beautiful greens and blue skies. Your perfect private Sanctuary! Just to be experienced by you and made for you! Now that’s something. I remember the popularity of noise cancelling phones when I was travelling from coast to coast as a consultant. Flying home on Thursday nights, you would see most folks on their Bose noise cancelling headsets lost in their little worlds for a moment of rest and a moment of solitude.

I see the same experience coming to us via the VR headgear and immersive content. Only this time, the experience will be more dramatic and more immersive with more freedom. The immersive content could become a game changer in defining how certain content is consumed. Immersive content could become more contemplative in nature and help shape a viewer’s emotion in more powerful ways than it is possible today.

I wonder how would you then price such an experience. Is it going to be a price sensitive category any more? Would brands be treated in the same fashion as they are treated today or would you begin to see new brands and new experience categories emerge as leaders in certain experience segments? How would a content producer monetize secondary revenue streams associated with the product? If the VR headgear can track head movements and engagement quality as it evolves, would you as the content curator show the same adverts in all the experience snippets in your content or will you be able to dynamically adjust the adverts and product placements depending upon the exact experience of the user.

I don’t know about you but for my new found freedom, I wouldn’t mind a little blimp carrying a product message fly across the blue skies every now and then while I enjoy my daily stroll in the ancient temple gardens of Kyoto sitting in the LA traffic as I wait for my self driving car to drive me home.