Virtual Reality Shoots Demand a New Set of Tricks

This story first appeared in the April 25, 2017 issue of Variety. Also available online here, just a few bullet points below.

For example, some years ago, when digital cameras came to dominate filmmaking, cinematographers began hiring digital-imaging technicians, or DITs, to handle image-quality control and color correction directly on the set.

And now, with the arrival of virtual-reality entertainment, a new job category has emerged — VR operator — to help manage camera systems on such productions.

The challenges of transitioning from traditional film and TV to VR are obvious. A single camera is enough to capture images for a movie or show, but VR content aims to replicate a realistic 360-degree environment. And the movements of a headset-wearing viewer control the point of view from which that environment is seen.....

Many 360-degree shoots use as many as five camera rigs, compounding the file-management challenges. On the VRLA panel Shooting VR for Post, cinematographer Eve Cohen said that, to her, the various VR camera rigs are akin to the different lenses she uses on a traditional production, “and I’m not going to show up on a shoot with one kind of lens.”

VR operators manage these systems. “To me, it’s like having somebody in charge of that camera — not necessarily from a creative standpoint, but with a technical understanding,” Cohen said.....

The technology is tricky, to be sure. But it’s clear that it takes a VR operator to help figure it out.https://codex.online/casestudies/Virtual-Reality-Meets-Cinematography