I am the first to admit: 360° video and virtual reality have ways to go. I also believe that these rapidly evolving technologies can enable profound experiences and will soon support more meaningful and impactful storytelling.
As Saba and I have been campaigning to fund the first Catalog.Earth expedition, we have spoken to many pioneers in the 360° video / VR field, as well as those with little or no experience with the technology. What started as an immersive data experiment with NASA’s satellite photography has evolved into a much larger initiative with very tactical challenges: securing access to glaciers, testing equipment, cutting costs, and cutting more costs. Our focus has been dominated by The What with little room for The Why.
Then a reporter from Fast Company asked me: Why 360° video? What can 360° videos do that regular videos can’t? I restated the obvious value of capturing an environment’s complete surroundings. I talked about the latest and greatest camera gear. My answer was long and rambling — perhaps unconvincing.
Good question, I thought...
That night I got a call from a friend interested in the Catalog.Earth. She had recently visited family in Ohio, bringing along a Google Cardboard VR headset. Her boyfriend’s father has never left the midwest, and when he donned the headset to view a summit of Mount Everest he fell silent — tears soaking into the paper box. Tears were running down their faces too, she told me, at witnessing his raw and emotional response to this totally unfamiliar place.
It struck me: this is why 360° video. It can transport us. It gives us the ability to share powerful and immersive experiences we may never have the opportunity to live.
It can ignite our imaginations and leave us in awe. It can make us cry in a room full of people watching as we flail around with a phone wrapped in cardboard strapped to our face.
Louis Cheskin suggested that people understand their experiences through 15 Core Meanings, such as Accomplishment, Security, and Validation. My favorite: Wonder. According to these Core Meanings, Wonder is defined as “awe in the presence of a creation beyond one’s understanding.”
To me, 360° videos have the potential to inspire awe through the sensation of rich experiences that feel real, though we know they are not. If done well, they become magical creations and even expand our understanding of what is possible. Yeah, we have a long way to go, but I’m an optimist and excited for what’s to come and all that we can learn along the way.
- David Al-Ibrahim, Co-Founder