Panopticam makes virtual reality movies a possibility

on Thursday, 5 June 2014
When it comes to virtual reality headsets, their remit so far has primarily been for use in gaming or for game-like experience, but soon you could be able to watch whole movies with one of these devices strapped to your head. This is thanks to a new 360-degree camera called the Panopticam developed by a team of British VR experts. 

Mounted on a tripod, the Panopticam is a 5kg spherical device covered in 36 cameras, and looks a bit like a bumble ball -- one of those colourful children's toys popular in the early 90s. The camera comes with a custom-built editing plugin for Adobe After Effects, which can be used to create films that can be watched using headsets like Oculus Rift and Sony's Project Morpheus. This would put you, the headset wearer, right in the middle of the action, with the freedom to inspect the world around you at will. Much as is the case with existing virtual reality experiences, this could either be enchanting or terrifying, depending on the genre of the film you're watching. 
It's likely though that initially the camera will be used to shoot and create commercial and advertorial content, in order that companies can create bespoke experiences as part of their marketing campaigns. The issue is obviously that not many people own virtual reality headsets at the moment, which would make it hard to justify the cost of filming a blockbuster in this fashion.
The company creating the Panopticam, Figure Digital, comes from a background creating augmented reality and virtual reality experiences for advertising purposes, but is also already working with Oculus Rift. "We hope that content creators looking to design mind-blowing VR video-based experiences (or hybrid video/CGI VR content) will, in future, be shooting with a Panopticam to create truly cinematic-quality VR," says Figure Digital's creative director Joe Kletz.
If you can imagine yourself filming with the Panopticam, don't get carried away just yet -- the camera is still in development at the company's London studio. There's no price or release date available yet either, but keep your eyes peeled and start cooking up some ideas for how you would want to put the camera into use.

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