Monday, October 24, 2016

360º filming’s impact on the future of Mass Communication Students

Alex Light
10/24/2016
360º video

360º video planning and implementing
360º filming’s impact on the future of Mass Communication Students

By Alex Light

            SAN MARCOS, Texas – A panel of speakers from all around Texas came to Texas State University today to discuss the topic of 360º videotaping. The moderator and professor, Jon Zmikly, led the conversation. The main speakers at the convention were Ricky Holm, CEO of Milk & Donuts; and Neal Nellans, videographer and AR Architect at Mutual Mobile. Both speakers dissected what 360º video graphing is and means for the future of Mass Communication students.
            What makes a 360º video work is the use of 6 GoPro cameras all covering 6 different planes to capture 360 degrees all around the videographer. After filming, the footage is all rendered on certain programs such as Adobe Photoshop, to be crafted into one film. This process is very difficult because it uses such a high resolution that many computers can’t run. The pixel size runs anywhere from 8k-12k. Most computers run smoothly at 1080 and few past 4k.  
            360º video graphing is becoming more popular and easier to run as technology pushes forward. “Growth of 360º videos on Facebook has increased as they spent over $2 billion to acquire Oculus to have those kind of videos for social interaction.” – commented by Neal about 360º filming growing in public use.

Neal Nellan talking about popularization of 360º filming

            As the topic comes to a close Jon Zmikly asked the question, “What is the future of 360º in 5-10 years from now?” All speakers believe 360º is just a prototype for something bigger and better. “It’s an evolution, a stepping stone, to what the future holds in this category.” Ricky Holm claims. With the help of multiple billion dollar companies, the expansion of this technology should be vastly greater in the near future. The next step, maybe not in the 5-10 year range, is photogrammetry. Photogrammetry is the ability to track all beams of light bouncing in a room making it possible to trace and view any angle in one room. Taylor Tribbey, a videographer at Texas State, says “It’s exciting to be a videographer for Mass Comm Week, and to get an idea of what the future holds for my potential career.” For examples of 360º videos, check out this link bit.ly/2eyNMPG.


Jon Zmikly, moderator, closing the 360º discussion held in the Alkek teaching theater

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