What an awesome couple of days emotion studios had last week “playing” with the new virtual reality camera, OZO 360-degree by Nokia. We were lucky enough to get to work directly with John Chater and the rest of the crew again over at Chater Camera in Berkeley. He gave us our early access to the latest in VR technology to begin figuring out how to tell great stories in virtual reality. Because no matter what the channel is, it’s all about the story. Even with the most cutting-edge tech available.

The unit captures a 360-degree image utilizing 8 discrete 2k x 2k images stitched together; on top of this, the front-facing six cameras form a stereoscopic image, allowing for the most immersive 3D detail found yet on a closed-system, live-capture VR solution. Pre-visualization and onset workflow is accomplished entirely via Nokia’s OZO Remote software, which provides a complete VR preview interface powered by a Macbook Pro. For more in-depth visualization, the VR image can be experienced via an Oculus Rift headset powered by a Mac Pro as well. Look, the facts are that even as excited as we were that we got to play with this, VR storytelling is still in its infancy. It’s a guarantee that there will be many new and cool innovations coming soon in regards to resolution, playback, and editing. And we can not wait to try them out! Can you tell we’re uber geeked up?

However, the facts are that even as excited as we were that we got to play with this, VR storytelling is still in its infancy. It’s a guarantee that there will be many new and cool innovations coming soon in regards to resolution, playback, and editing. And we can not wait to try them out! Can you tell we’re uber geeked up?

Thanks again John! No way to explain just how helpful John was in getting us up to speed and understanding the features of this alien creature… I mean camera.

Please enjoy these pics of our playtime at the beach and in the air. We also have one very early test of the 180 technology at the bottom of this post.

If we haven’t said it enough: Thanks, John! And a special shout out to Beth Duff at Cirrus (check out the Cirrus plane candy here) who came out with a brand spankin’ new SR22T and helped us get some great footage of Marin, the Golden Gate Bridge, and beyond.

Please note that the below project is only test footage. It is in the spirit of test and learn that we shot this and we wanted to share this early version so you can see where we are heading based on where we’ve been. There will be much more here for the final cut for deeper storytelling. But isn’t it frickin’ cool?

And…for those who aren’t watching this on a VR headset: you can view all 360 degrees of the story by using the arrows on the top left corner of the screen. Enjoy!