Hey Jess, been enjoying your articles. Based on this ethos of spherical video storytelling, I can see why limiting the FOV of the sphere might seem like an anti — approach to technique in this new medium.

Because of the limited aspect of user agency in 3DOF (ie only being able to look around from a fixed point) the implications to me are more of “witness” and less “full participant” the way a game like Red Dead Redemption can provide (and the 6DOF systems that are just coming out now, and will likely become the default within a few years)

I’m curious if you have had a chance to see Connor Hair’s Real, and if so did you think it of the technique of combining traditional framed video and immersive camera into a single experience was successful?

I’m all for embracing a new medium fully, but I also think there is plenty of room to mix and match different media formats within VR as a whole to tell different types of stories.