So, you’re interested in immersive technology? Here is a run down of some of the most common mistakes that are made when making 360 video content.
1. Having your subject too close to the camera
This is the most common of all the mistakes when making 360 content. Having your subject too close to the camera rig causes them to cross the ‘parallax lines’ or ‘stitch lines’ and become obviously distorted.
The ‘parallax lines’ are formed when view from the different cameras in the 360 rig overlap each other. If a subject walks too close to the camera, they are likely to cross these lines and then they become ‘split’ along the line as if they were being weirdly chopped in half.
The best way to avoid this happening is to keep the subject at least 3 metres away from the camera rig when filming, and make sure they are not standing in between 2 of the cameras from the rig.
2. Moving the camera too quickly or in unnatural ways
A common technique when making a 360 film is to walk around with the camera to show different locations to the viewer. This is either done with a ‘selfie stick’ or a head mount.
However, adding camera movement into the scene can introduce a lot of problems.
When making a 360 film, you have to keep the user experience at the forefront of your creative processes. The viewer is likely to be sat stationary when watching the content, and so jolty camera movements or violent motions will disorientate the viewer (or worse, cause motion sickness!).
3. Tilt the horizon unnaturally
Moving the camera to the left and right while recording can cause the horizon to warp and move up and down, and may only be visible when watching the film back on a headset. This can be extremely disorientating for the viewer, and having warped horizons will detract from the actual content of the 360 video.
4. Cut too quickly between scenes
One of the biggest differences between 360 films and normal films, is the time spent looking at each scene.
In the traditional video format, the viewer only sees one perspective of the scene at any one time. However, a 360 film encourages the viewer to look around them, due to its interactive nature. Therefore, we suggest that you allow enough time for each shot, for your viewers to move their head around and explore the scene. This means each shot will usually have to be on screen for at least 15 seconds.
5. Having different camera settings for each of the cameras
A massive mistake is not having each of the cameras in your 360 camera rig recording on the same settings. Without the same settings, some scenes are likely to look out of time, have different colours, or are warped completely.
6. Putting the camera too far away from the action
So, we’ve told you that the subject needs to be at least 3 meters away from the camera. Yet, there’s a sweet spot – you won’t want to have the camera too far away from the action. You have to remember that you cannot zoom-in, so it must be a reasonable size on screen. We recommend positioning your subject from anywhere between 3 and 10 meters away form the camera to get the ideal shot.
7. Recording bad audio
Audio is incredibly important in 360 videos. Audio can control the direction in which the viewer is looking, and can change the way in which a scene comes across. Therefore, you have to make sure you bring along good audio recording equipment when filming.
8. Not keeping the viewers’ attention for long enough
How do you keep your viewer entertained for a 15 second shot?
Having a boring scene is a real drag when watching 360 content.
Easy: When filming in 360, make sure there is something going on all around the camera. Even if you are trying to make the viewer look in a particular direction in a scene, it will make for a much better 360 film if you have some content in every direction. 3
60 filming is no longer a gimmick, and more people are expecting more from their virtual reality experience. You can no longer get away with sub-standard content in the hope people will watch it just because it is a 360 video.
9. Having bland lighting
Lighting is key in encouraging the viewer to look in a particular direction when filming in 360 degrees. Spotlights and dark areas are key tools for a good virtual reality filmmaker. Boring and bland lighting often allows the attention of you viewer to wander and miss the main content of the video.
10. Not having legible text on screen
If you’re going to have text on screen, make sure it’s there long enough to read, in a visible colour and size, and in multiple locations around the viewer, so that they don’t miss it.
Watch the latest collection of our 360 videos here.