- 360 Hurricane Mathew Aftermath
We all know every news story comes with its fair share of challenges. During a natural disaster, those challenges are often made worse by conditions and events outside of our control. Add a new storytelling tool to the mix, in this case a 360 camera, and the potential for mistakes goes up. But sometimes two-dimensional words, pictures and video aren’t enough to convey the gravity and devastation of a scene to our viewers. Immersive storytelling can engage our audience like no other medium before it.
In early October 2016, in anticipation of Hurricane Mathew making landfall, I went to Florida to cover the events that would follow in the coming days. I had just returned home after completing my assignment, when we started hearing about severe flooding in the town of Lumberton, North Carolina. Recognizing an opportunity for immersive storytelling, I pitched the idea of taking a 360 camera to Lumberton and caught a flight later that same day.
THE GEAR:
There is nothing I hate more than lugging around a ton of gear through the airport. For this reason I recently bought the Insta360 Nano and couldn’t be happier. It’s a two-lens system that shoots 3040x1520 on a single micro SD card. You can pair it with your phone to live monitor your image, or use it as a stand-alone device. In my opinion it’s the most affordable 360 camera currently on the market that doesn’t sacrifice too much picture quality. Are there better cameras out there? Yes. Is this a good camera for starting out with 360? Absolutely!
So what about audio? I knew if I was going to get any usable natural sound, it would be from the internal mic of the Nano. But what about interviews? An easy run and gun solution is my go-to Rode smartLav. The microphone plugs into your smartphone, and you can record broadcast-quality audio straight from the Rode Rec field recording app.
For stabilization I used a MeFoto tripod I already owned. It’s lightweight and very compact. Everything I took with me could easily fit into one small carry-on backpack. For a person who normally checks at least 11 Pelican cases, that’s a huge improvement!
FINDING THE STORY:
Just getting into the city of Lumberton was rough. Roads were flooded or washed away completely. At the time, there was only one way in and one way out. Inside the city, finding things to shoot was less challenging than navigating around. There was so much going on! Police officers directing traffic, business owners cooking and handing out food and water, Red Cross volunteers turning the local high school’s gym into a medical center, and families reaching out to their neighbors to see how they could help.
After I shot some video and got a feel for the atmosphere, one thing became clear: The water was separating me from the local residents and their homes. That made me eager to discover the story beyond the visible and dividing water line. I drove all around trying to find a better vantage point. That’s how I stumbled upon Wendy Goodman, with her car parked on the side of the road and a small boat in shallow water. The floodwaters had driven her and her husband as well as her mother out of their homes just days prior, and they were trying to get back to assess the damage. I asked if I could tag along with them to document the experience and promised that I would stay out of the way. They agreed.
THE SHOOT:
The advantage of shooting a traditional 2D news story is that you can control what the viewer sees. 360 is the opposite because the viewer controls the entire experience from all directions. This poses a few challenges if you aren’t going to make yourself part of the story. Where do you go after you hit the record button? Luckily, if you have good 2D shooting habits, you should do well with 360. Shooting with the background, middle ground and foreground in mind will put the viewer close to something in your scene. I framed up every shot considering both directions, hit the record button, and walked out of view.
Sometimes I hid behind a car, tree, person, house, wall or doorway. I was able to avoid appearing in almost all of my shots. One exception is a shot of a truck driving through the water flooding the road. For this I tried to minimize attention to myself by getting as far away as I could. I figured that the viewer would focus on the truck moving right next to the camera rather than on any people in the periphery of the shot.
Overall, shooting is a lot more challenging with 360, because each shot requires significantly more planning. But I’ve found that if you center your stories around what would make a good 360 experience for the viewer, and keep that in mind for the entire shoot, you will have plenty of options. If for some reason that’s not the case, I challenge you to think of a different way of telling the story that hasn’t been done before. I always say there’s no right or wrong way to tell a story, only suggestions!
THE INTERVIEW:
I ended up focusing solely on Wendy and her husband’s experience because my attempts to incorporate other elements into the piece always pulled me out of the story. So I went back to Journalism 101: the KISS method, or KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID! I recorded the audio separately, which is easily done with the Rode smartLav and Rec app. I placed the microphone on my subject and positioned her close enough to the camera to get scratch audio from the internal mic. I then hit record on the camera and record on the app. Since I wouldn’t be using any software to sync the video and audio, a simple clap in front of the camera did the trick. I could later use that clapping as my sync point in my post.
Conducting the interview in the garage also had its advantages. I was able to hide behind one of the couple’s flooded-out vehicles and ask my questions without having to worry about the sound carrying. The echo in the garage really helped that out. In most 360 situations, interviewing is the most challenging aspect.
THE EDIT:
The edit was all done on a flight from Raleigh, North Carolina, to Denver, Colorado. I used Insta360 Studio to transcode the video to MP4 files. You can do a lot in the Studio app, but I haven’t experimented with it much. From there, I imported directly into FCPX and started editing.
One thing I did differently: I also made a 2D version of the story so it could air on television. That’s the reason I cut the piece the way I did. If I’d had more airtime, I could have let the story breathe a bit more. Normally, I’d create two separate pieces, but due to the tight deadline, I had to settle for one. To add text, sharpen and denoise the video and make the 2D version, I used the FCPX plugin by Dashwood, 360VR Express.
Final thoughts:
360 storytelling is a powerful new tool. It allows viewers to experience the story through their own eyes. As a result, they become more engaged with your content. There is something truly special about that.
Is it different? Yes. Is it hard? Sometimes. Is it worth it? Without a doubt. This year, more than ever before, is the time to jump in and try your hand at 360 video. The tools are more affordable than ever. If you continually find yourself wondering how you can tell the same story differently, consider 360. The more we embrace and experiment with new technology, the more we help drive this entire industry forward!
About the author: Socrates Lozano is a national technology coordinator and photojournalist for The E.W. Scripps Company based in Denver, Colorado.
