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YouTube's revealed the secret to making an engaging virtual reality video: put the best parts right in front of the audience so they don't have to move their heads.
Google's video vault offers that advice on the basis of heat maps it's created based on analysis of where VR viewers point their heads while wearing VR goggles. There's just such a heat map at the top of this story (or here for m.reg readers) and a bigger one here.
The many heat maps YouTube has made lead it to suggest that VR video creators "Focus on what's in front of you: The defining feature of a 360-degree video is that it allows you to freely look around in any direction, but surprisingly, people spent 75% of their time within the front 90 degrees of a video. So don't forget to spend significant time on what's in front of the viewer."
YouTube also advises that "for many of the most popular VR videos, people viewed more of the full 360-degree space with almost 20% of views actually being behind them." Which sounds to El Reg like VR viewers are either staring straight ahead, or looking over their shoulders with very little time being devoted to sideways glances.
A video channel wants people to treat VR like video. Hmmm. Perhaps the answer to their question is in the question: people should be considered "participants" instead of an "audience."
(Score: 2) by takyon on Monday June 19 2017, @08:34PM
It's up to filmmakers to make it worth a damn for narrative experiences that aren't games. One glaring problem is that if the camera is translating and rotating, there's a disconnect between those changes in view and your lack of movement. I guess the test for this would be to watch something like Hardcore Henry in VR and then see if you feel like shit afterwards.
Video of real life events such as protests or security footage could benefit. Also think of videos where someone gets on a motorcycle and films using a 360 degree camera. Stuff like that can already be uploaded on YouTube right now. If important historical events were captured in 360 degrees, you could pause and look around at certain frames. Might have made the Zapruder film more compelling, eh?
Nature docs, night sky timelapses, views from plazas or street intersections, and concerts [youtube.com] could all be interesting to see in 360 degrees. W.R.T. the night sky, although applications like Space Engine, Stellarium, Universe Sandbox, Digital Universe Atlas, etc. are more obvious targets for VR support than astronomy videos, videos of the night sky would allow you to see real world phenomena including meteors, aurora, the ISS orbiting, etc. that would otherwise have to be simulated. Although you could just go outside and lay down on your back to get a 360 degree view of the sky, that won't work if it's cloudy or there's light pollution. Not to mention the bugs.
Your weakest objection yet. If it's too embarrassing for the movie theater, stick it in the living room. If you can't even stand to be seen by your (hopefully existent) friends and loved ones, then you exile VR to the bed or basement.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]