This story first appeared on RJI’s Futures Lab. Reporting by Katy Mersmann, Rachel Wise, Blair Ussary and Berkeley Lovelace.
This week we get some advice for newsrooms that want to experiment with virtual reality stories, and we learn about a new VR editing tool being developed specifically for journalists.
PART 1: Virtual reality for journalists
A team from the University of Texas at Austin is building technology specifically for journalists to make it easier to tell stories via 360-degree video. We find out from the project’s leaders how the technology might enable more news outlets to use the medium.
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Related examples:
The team at the University of Texas collaborated with the Washington Post to create 3D videos of Pope Francis’ visit to Juarez, Mexico. They also worked together to create an in-depth virtual reality experience on the surface of Mars.
PART 2: Tips for creating VR content
Creating virtual reality content is complicated but perhaps not as difficult as you might think, according to a few people we spoke with who have been working with the technology. We pull together a few of their tips for beginners.
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Additional tips and advice:
- How Can Journalists use Virtual Reality to tell News Stories? (An introduction for beginners from former RJI fellow Dan Archer)
- Best practices for VR content creation (HoneyVR)
- How to create great content for the Google Cardboard VR headset (DigitalArts)
- Google Cardboard developers site
- Immersive Journalism (website of Nonny de la Peña, a pioneer in using virtual reality storytelling for news)
Reuben Stern is the deputy director of the Futures Lab at the Reynolds Journalism Institute and host and co-producer of the weekly Futures Lab video update.
The Reynolds Journalism Institute’s Futures Lab video update features a roundup of fresh ideas, techniques and developments to help spark innovation and change in newsrooms across all media platforms. Visit the RJI website for the full archive of Futures Lab videos, or download the receive email notification of each new episode.