Glen Wolyner

VR Story Telling

Assignment #2

For the past two years I have been a part of the sailing team. We sail on a lake nearby called Cazenovia. We sail small boat called FJ’s and they hold typically two people. We have a fleet of eight boats and we go every weekend (weather permitting) to sail and practice. The scene would be within the boat with the sailors. Ideally the perspective would be first person looking at the hands of one of the skilled sailors on the team, tie ropes pulling sails in and out, showing how quickly the wind can change and what it is like to go fast. I would also like to get a good perspective of the lake from the dock and then maybe one more shot of all the sail boats from the coach’s launch. The lighting style we would use for the scenes would be natural light. It would be very difficult to get the best lighting where everything is clear and the viewer can see it all but I would do my best to pick a sunny day and then have us constantly in proper sunlight. The audio for the sailing video would be a bit of an undertaking because you need wind to sail and wind and microphones don’t typically mix well. I would have to diminish the wind interference in editing or maybe if there was some sort of boom I could mount in the boat to capture the communication between the skipper and the crew it would really add to the immersion.

There is nothing better than experiencing what it is like to sail in a boat that is going at full speed with the wind whipping by you and a beautiful day as your background. I want to immerse the viewer to have those euphoric feelings. I want to give the viewer an experience of sailing and potentially use it to recruit new people in the future for the team. This needs to be a compelling experience for everyone that watches it. People will be interested in it because not many people know how to sail nor ever get the chance to.  This is an experience everyone needs to have because it is not only a nice leisure sport but it is also a competitive lifestyle. It may be disorienting at times because of a moving boat but an overall interesting and immersive experience. Certain people may avoid watching this VR experience because of a fear of water or drowning. You get wet in sailing and more often then not boat tip over. But we always wear proper flotation devices and dry suits, this may help change their mind about the sport.

The sailors would definitely be the main focus of the story. How they sail and all of their techniques would be using. The boat would be the entity. The plot of the VR story would be from the Launch of the boat until they dock at the end of practice. The viewer would watch drills and understand the basics of how to sail through this video. What moves the story are the different drills and races the crew of the boat need to perform. The water would be one anchor of the viewer as well as the communication between the skipper and the crew would draw the viewers’ attention back with in the boat. Not many people know how to sail and the viewer could possible learn some tips and tricks from watching this video. Understanding the passion for the sport and possibly inspiring someone to give at try themselves.

The viewer will get first hand experience of what it takes to be a crew in a competitive sailing boat. Being able to see how intense it gets and how hyper focused the sailors need to be to succeed. The viewers perspective would be in the first person, only if a body cam would be able to record 360 videos. If not then the camera would be firmly mounted to the front of the boat. The video would be suctioned cupped to the bow of the boat to capture the viewer of the skipper and the crew. We would obviously need to be extra careful with all of our equipment because not only are we dealing with a water sport we could potentially loose it as it sinks to the bottom of the lake. The equipment will be safely mounted to the boat where I can keep an eye on it at all times either while I am sailing or following along in a coach’s launch. Overall I think this would be a really great video to produce. Fun and educational.