Rumours that 2010 will be the year of the tablet already have me steeled for the next technological wave to hit the news industry—one that publications seem ready to embrace. But I had to sit down when I saw this video.
It begins on a boat with rock music and a few dudes giving life the longhorns. Nothing I haven’t seen on YouTube. Then I realized I could control the perspective and suddenly everything changed. Later on I had to resist referring to myself in the second person when describing the BASE jumping scene.
The film was made using a camera system that takes 11 video streams arranged in the shape of a dodecahedron in order to capture a 360 degree view. The system was developed by David McCutchen, the chief technical officer at Immersive Media Corp., a Calgary, Alberta-based company founded in 1994 that deals in immersive imagery licensing, among other things.
Tablets may help print media make the digital transition, but if this technology takes off, it could not only offer a more compelling way for journalists to engage viewers but change the way they tell stories. So if you think you have your hands full lugging around your notepad, recorder, camera and video camera, just wait until the release of the dorky-looking Dodeca 2360 camera system.
[Video taken down as it was not working. You can find it here.]Thanks, Reddit.
About the author
Rodney Barnes was the Blog Editor for the Spring 2010 issue of the Ryerson Review of Journalism.