Can 360 Video Walk the Talk?

Picture this: two skiers descend a whitewashed Chilean mountainside. The camera hovers above as they carve between moguls, slowly moving out of view. Suddenly, the camera dives after them. As the ground disappears behind you, something catches your eye. Instead of passively watching it blur away, you swivel the view 90 degrees to see what else is over there.

This isn’t real life, or even a videogame, it’s 360 video and, according to advertising companies like OmniVirt and Google, it’s the current pinnacle of video marketing. There are some pretty impressive stats for how much more successful it is than old-fashioned video. Google’s 360 video advertising wing found, in a side-by-side comparison, that 360 drove 41 percent more earned actions, including views, shares and subscriptions.

Why aren’t we sold? Well, there are a few issues that limit the immersiveness of the overall experience. And, as storytellers, we believe immersion is important to believing — and caring — about the story. In other words, the pieces of the story and the medium must build a cohesive whole.

Plotholes:

Cameras have limited depths of field. There is one focal point and it’s focused on whatever the director thinks you should be looking at — and everything else is kind of blurry. This can make truly “exploring” everything else kind of a drag.

You’re still at the mercy of the editor. Multiple shooting locations may still need to be worked into a four-minute video using the same fade-outs and fade-ins you’re used to, but now they happen while you’re sucked into the surroundings. It’s jarring to get yanked out of exploring a scene and plopped into a new locale. That’s actually bad storytelling.

You’re still at the mercy of the camera operator. Like Google Street View, you can click in any direction to see what’s over there — but unlike Street View you can’t actually move in that direction. It doesn’t mean you don’t move, though. And depending on what the person in charge wants you to see, you could be moving in any direction. This can also be jarring. And annoying … possibly nauseating.

The sound is weird. It’s clearly a work in progress. It comes from all directions and just kind of encompasses you, which is fine. But, it’s certainly not natural.

Finally:

Can it tell a good story, or is it just a cool trick? That’s the big question. A trick can be fun and entertaining, and enjoyed by many. But a good story has shelf life. The best marketing is still impressive 20 years later. When real virtual reality and 3D TV are readily available, will we look back on 360 video as an important era in marketing, or simply as a placeholder for something better?