Social Distancing forces Storytelling Rethink

In 2020, I developed an education project based on field camps that were postponed because of COVID-19. Video content was key to the program being assembled in Moodle Cloud. H5P.com added extensive interactivity. We were able to take a well developed existing camp program and convert it to online delivery. In the process I become proficient in technologies that were new to me but what was missing for students, I felt, was a real sense of place.

The camps were located on conservation reserves, unique place of high conservation and First Nations cultural value. Learning is really anchored to country. I felt there had to be a way of making the experience of place more prominent. Yes, video really lets viewers see a place, but there's a world of difference between looking at a place and actually being there. It brings to mind the classic postcard caption, "Wish you were here!" I briefly considered working in 360º panoramas but it was out of our reach at the time.

While COVID was running rampant throughout the world, South Australia was largely protected by limiting mobility and social distancing. One of our artist friends had to cancel an exhibition. We simply weren't equipped to offer an online exhibition, that is until now.

Immersive Experiences of Place in 3D Tours

3D virtual tours have a wow factor that draws an immediate response. It reminds me of the early days of silent film where audiences would rush from a theatre on seeing a steam train coming towards them on screen. Today we experience virtual tours in a similar way. Boundaries drop away and disbelief is temporarily suspended as you feel like you are there, inside the image. What wasn't possible while we were digitising a field trip is now a reality.  

An opportunity open up to exhibit during the Adelaide Fringe, so we asked our friend, "Would you like us create a virtual studio and gallery tour of your exhibition?" The 3D tour would not replace a real exhibition but extend the time time viewers and collectors could engage with the work. A studio tour would promote the event up until opening night. Then a gallery tour would be added soon afterwards and finally, when the exhibition was over, there would be a full digital archive of the exhibition with links to an e-shop for unsold work.

360 panoramas have been around for a number of years. The real estate industry, for example, has been enthusiastic in their uptake. As filmmakers we are interested in the stories of and in a place not just their setting. So we looked for the ways 360º panoramas could provide a canvass for telling complex stories, a place for embedding images, video and gaming elements such as quizzes and treasure hunts. Visitors would be immersed in an experience.

One of the challenging aspects of 360º story telling is that it is non-linear. Viewers create their own path through a tour. "Episodes" of a story must connect with each other in various ways while maintaining continuity. That's quite easy to achieve with a visual experience like an art exhibition where visitors choose the order of viewing work for themselves. How would this work in a history tour or a winery tour? How can a viewer keep track of pieces of information until they all come together as a gestalt. A bit like a detective story really.

Filmmaker's Tools in a 3D Space

Clearly, we must return to the basic tools and processes of filmmaker and story teller: begin with the end in mind, orientation, beginning, middle and end. Some 3d tours, like those used by realtors,  are simple recounts. When the goal is to tell complex stories such as the history of a unique place, a training program for a specific context, an exhibition, museum, festival, or producer of fine foods, the physical place with all its characteristics is merely a vehicle for the experience that happens within it.

Next time I will talk about some of the features 360º storytellers have at their disposal to increase the sense of immersion.