Storytelling Techniques with 360 Cameras at “Akademi VR”

At Sampoerna University, we always strive to be more than a campus for our students. As a learning community, we also open opportunities for everyone to learn together from the best minds. Bearing this spirit in mind, the study program of Visual Communication Design (VCD) recently held a 3-day workshop "Akademi VR" at our L'Avenue campus from 26 to 28 April 2019. This workshop aimed at anyone interested in storytelling with 360 cameras. "Akademi VR helps participants learn various techniques of storytelling which include production and post-production processes using 360 cameras," said Tombak Matahari, head of the study program. In the course, according to Tombak ever participant was encouraged to experiment to tell their own stories. There were 17 participants who sat down to learn together from Festivo (one of the leading virtual reality production houses in Indonesia). In partnerships with Sampoerna University, several experts and practitioners of Festivo spoke and guided all participants who consisted of design lecturers, broadcast professionals, and movie makers from Jakarta and the surrounding areas. Further, Tombak said that Virtual Reality (VR) was chosen as it is a new way of telling stories around us and to entertain audiences. To be defined simply, VR is an interactive computer-generated experience taking place within a simulated environment. And 360 VR video is only one of the ongoing trends right now. The industry is increasingly promising, as it is projected to be on track to generate $26.89 billion in revenue by 2022 as reported by Zion Market Research on February 14, 2018. Because the level offered here was advanced, the topics covered were, therefore, more complete and complex. At first, participants were introduced to Immersive Media. They were also taught scriptwriting for VR, VR shooting techniques, stitching, editing programming, publishing to VR headset, to screening. At the end of the workshop, participants were allowed to evaluate what they had learned. (*/)