Beyond continuity within the frame: experiments in 360 documentary

Abstract

360 video is a new medium, with different opportunities than traditional film and a need for new conventions. In a traditional film, the typical HD resolution contains about 2 million pixels spaced over a screen which fills only a portion of the viewer's full range of vision. The filmmaker must squeeze all of the information they are trying to convey into that small space and direct the viewer's attention within the frame. In 360 video, the lowest resolution in frequent use contains about 10 million pixels, over 8 million more than the traditional HD standard and distributed over a range that fills the viewer's entire vision in every direction. Similarly to how the advent of traditional film gave photography the use of motion and time, the challenge and opportunity of 360 video is to effectively direct attention while making full use of the extra space. This Master of Fine Arts thesis is an exploration of potential avenues for making use of those extra pixels in documentary film, the immersive aspects of the 360 medium, and maintaining the editorial agency of the filmmaker while taking advantage of new opportunities for collaboration with the viewer.