philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

The NBA and Oculus just released one of the longest, most dynamic VR films so far

Follow My Lead: The Story of the 2016 NBA Finals marks a strange milestone. At 25 minutes long, it’s one of the first virtual reality films to approach the length of a single TV episode.

Follow My Lead isn’t a rapid-fire piece of cinematography, but it uses quicker cuts and some techniques that are rarely found in VR filmmaking, like rolling dolly shots. It dispenses with the idea that switching between angles will alienate viewers, or that 360-degree video should put people directly in the middle of the action — important things always happen directly in front of you, although you can look to the side or behind for extra detail.

The flip side is that in order to achieve this flow, Oculus and m ss ng p eces have had to accept a certain number of rough edges. There are clear stitching lines and mismatches in parts of the video, especially the rolling shots, where looking behind you will reveal a pinched half-man pulling the camera along.

There’s also nothing anyone can do about the relatively low resolution of headsets, which render faces fuzzy and courtside scenes slightly muddy — although since most people will watch it as Facebook 360-degree video, not a VR film, that’s not an issue for everyone.

See the full story here: http://www.theverge.com/2016/9/14/12907390/nba-oculus-vr-video-follow-my-lead-cavaliers-warriors-finals