The Facebook Surround 360 3-D 360-degree camera system the social network introduced at its F8 global developers’ conference in April is the star of its first 3-D/360 film, Here and Now.
Creative director Larry Corwin and executive producer Margaret McLaughlin introduced Here and Now in a Facebook Media blog post, describing the film as follows:
After the Facebook Surround 360 camera was built, Facebook’s creative studio, The Factory, set out to explore the possibilities of what it could do and how it could be used to convey deeper stories of humanity and connection in a fully immersive stereoscopic 360 experience. The result is Here and Now, a short film that transports you to the middle of the main hall of Grand Central Terminal in New York, where you’re immersed in the stories of the people passing through. From family members reconnecting, to a final embrace as a young daughter departs for a trip, to a group of teenagers heading out for the night—you feel like you’re right there watching these moments unfold.
Here and Now is filmed and directed in a radically new way to match the power of this new fully immersive stereoscopic 360 media. Here the line between viewer and creator are blurred. Even though there are various audio and visual cues that lead you from one part of the story to the other, you are free to engage any character or vignette you want—often getting to know a character before they become central to the story. Other times you may want to gaze out into the beautiful architecture or scan the crowd to take in the whole experience like you would in real life. In many ways the story becomes your own—and each time you watch, you can experience the scene and story differently.
Corwin and McLaughlin also detailed the challenges they and the rest of the Here and Now crew faced during the preproduction, production and postproduction stages.
Readers: What did you think of Here and Now?
