I’ve recently found this article regarding a VR project on The Conversation, which covers the topic of the Indigenous culture and people, facing threat from modernity and going under the radar for being the first people of the land.

The article goes on to elaborate how the VR film provided an immersive experience for people to observe the beautiful and enchanting environment of outback Australia as well as its lushes green rainforests where the Indigenous people predominantly occupy. This let me to ponder, on the post production process for making this VR film. Personally, I have very little knowledge on VR technology apart from how it works, but the mechanics behind it and how it can be edited, trimmed, and to what extent can be animated or composited, still escapes me. I might have mentioned in my previous blog posts in response to other studios that I have enrolled in prior to this that I aspire to become an offline editor in future. And being an editor requires one to possess a keen eye to detail, a sense of pacing, a good feel of mood, emotion, and contrast… However, thinking of applying all these traits of an offline editor into editing a VR video or film just doesn’t seem to gel.

Being an immersive technology, you require the audience to participate in the content of the media, instead of being just a passive audience. This means one can rotate his head around and witness everything that has been captured by the 360 degree camera, giving the illusion that he is right there while it’s all happening. This, however, would eliminate the sense of pacing and time, one of the key traits an offline editor embodies. Other traits that an offline editor might end up losing would be selecting the shots for the sequence. In traditional media, such as film, or TV, the editor would select the appropriate shot, camera angle, and take to follow up from the previous shot in order to make up one whole cohesive timeline and sequence. However, if everything was shot in 360 degrees, over a period of a couple of minutes or so, I don’t think there would be much footage the editor can choose from in terms of camera angle or takes.

I guess what I’m trying to say is, with 360 degree cameras emerging and VR technology coming up, would jobs or roles in the industry slowly die out or face “extinction”? It’s funny, because this VR project is trying to convey the message of Indigenous culture facing threat of being forgotten, while the technology employed to convey this message is something that might kill out older trades in the industry. Of course, we’ll always have films, TV series, dramas, documentaries, and more for a good ten to twenty years or so. But I think it’s still worth considering how are all these new technologies impacting the future of media in general.

I’m not sure how this post fits into the assignment 2, but I just found it thought provoking to consider how new technologies and new media might impact the occupations of not only both past and present, but in the future as well.

The trailer to the VR film can be viewed here.