"HBCUSE" -- A Black Celebration

For my final project I wanted to highlight the different cultures that walk the campus of Syracuse University. This 360 video is made up of different spaces where people of color on campus have found their niche. I wanted to get a wide range of events, so I did multiple indoor and outdoor shoots. Due to my interest in storytelling, to tie everything together I started of with the historical context of  why Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were created. Through this video people are able to experience the celebrations of marginalized communities across the campus and see that diversity is something to be celebrated.  By placing the viewer in the middle of the HBCUSE experience viewers are fully immersed in the activities taking place around them.

Video Overview:

The video begins with historically black sororities and fraternities, then goes into preparation for Mayfest ending with an introduction to "HBCUSE".

This is a term coined by students of color at Syracuse University to show we exist and our experiences matter. This project shows the beauty of unity and how people from all walks of life can come together for a greater purpose. I dedicate this video to the all the students of color and underrepresented communities on the campus of Syracuse University. I see you, and I appreciate you.

Independent Learning

I have a huge interest in 360 and for my independent learning I wanted to learn different aspects of 360 videos. I used my final project as a way to learn more about 360 storytelling and looked at wide range of videos ranging from Ted Talks editing tutorials on youtube. Throughout my research I learned the importance of storytelling within 360 video, content creators all shared one thing: You want to fully immerse the viewer and give them an experience. I used audio and video effects to  achieve full immersion. I interviewed students that attended the event as well as one of the campus DJ's to give more insight about what HBCUSE is and what it means to them. I changed the camera position multiple times during UV Fest/ Black Castle and used camera effects to transport viewers from one location to another. Besides immersive video effects, I also added

Transitions and Camera Effects 

This video helped me add transitions and rotate some of the footage to control what the viewer sees first. You do this by clicking on the individual clip, then going to effects, Immersive Video and drag VR rotate sphere to the clip and go to effects control and under VR Rotate sphere change the Pan (Y axis) to where you would like to start the video. I did this on multiple clips and added effects before to transition into a different location. For the text on my 360 video I added plane to sphere effect to change the text from flat to 2 dimensional.

For transitions I tested out various effects and felt that the VR spherical blur and VR Mobius zoom worked best with the effects I wanted to achieve, so I added those in between different clips so there would not be a jump cut from one video to another.

Overall this independent learning assignment helped me learn about integral aspects of 360 storytelling and incorporating effects to make your video more appealing. I also learned that Youtube is the hub for everything you need to know when it comes to premiere and editing 360 video. Major thanks to Professor Pacheco and Premiere Gal for equipping me with all the resources needed to succeed in VR storytelling.