For this assignment, I decided to go through a Lynda course that would help me with my final project. I found a course called VR Photography and Video, which focuses on the aesthetics of VR and making sure that your topic or theme within your video makes sense for VR.

This course first of all was helpful because as I continue to develop my idea for my final project, I have been thinking about camera locations and how to create action in the different scenes so that each clip is interesting and easy to watch. This course went into detail about using a point of view, much like you would when taking a still photo, but taking that same idea and applying it to 360 video. Since 360 video is not creating an environment you can move around in, it is still important to have a point of view and make sure that the camera location and its surroundings make sense and don't distract from what you are trying to portray through your scene. Since we cannot control the viewer's eyes, framing is important so that their eyes are drawn to any action that is occurring and so that they don't miss something important because they are looking in a different direction.

Another element of 360 video that this course touched on was that 360 video gives viewers an ability to understand a space or scene in a way that you can't with a single still image. VR experiences create more context in terms of where you are and what it looks like and it is important to use that to your advantage. This is also where it is important to focus on the level of the camera when shooting. The creator of this course used his camera a little bit lower than his eye level and he said that he prefers to go lower as opposed to higher because he feels it is better to have head room like in traditional video shooting.

This ability to understand a given space or situation is what gives 360 video the unique ability to be a very effective narrative tool. 360 video can present spaces, people, items, etc. in few ways than ever before and it is important to think about how, where, and why you are using the 360 rig before you shoot.

This course definitely got me thinking more about how I will use the camera to create my 360 video project and how I will try to create a point of view that will assist in the overall narrative of the project.