Immersive Video Production / Final Project

on
03.07.2025 - 24.07.2025 (Week 11 - Week 14)
Ng Kar Yee / 0367743
Bachelor of Design (Honours) in Creative Media
Immersive Video Production / Final Project

INTRODUCTION

FINAL PROJECT⇒ 360 SHORT FILM

For our final project, Mr Martin introduced 360 Video Short Film to us where we need to produce a 360 video short film on a topic of our choice as a group, emphasizing a strong justification for the use of 360°video medium. We are encouraged to be creative and not limit our imagine within traditional idea mindset.

For this project, the requirement are,
Students will practice shooting with 360° video camera, online/ offline editing with Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Audition.

I was in a group with Aaron and Guan Yu. To have a head start, Mr Martin discussed with us what was our thoughts on the project. We had a very very very long discussion that day and he suggest some inspiration from my major project where my group proposal to do a unity 3D game. He suggested that maybe we could challenge ourselves in adding in Unity to our 360 project. Then we started to brainstorming and researching on what we wanted to do.

RESEARCH

I found a video similar to putting a 360 video to Unity on Youtube.

After researching and brainstorming we decided to do a horror-themed interactive experience that transitions from a 360 video third-person scene to a Unity-based first-person scene. The project aims to evoke tension and curiosity by blending cinematic storytelling with limited interactivity, allowing participants to feel present as the narrative unfolds and intensifies. We focused on the keyword curiosity, fear, mystery, and unease.



After drafting out our ideation, We consulted Mr Martin. Mr Martin feedbacked that ideation was okay, however we adjust a few minor content.

SHOOTING

After completing the proposal, we proceed on the shooting part. For this project, we had the opportunity to borrow the Insta360 Pro 2 from Taylor's VorteXR Club. I was quite excited as we got to try out a high spec super clear 360 camera which have 6 lens. The camera looks like an android...
Figure 1.0 Insta360 Pro 2

After a few tutorial and trial shoot on familiarizing the basic control of the camera, we proceed on planning the shoot. Based on our storyline, we had 3 characters to be played, the main character, a mysterious guy and a ghost. Guan Yu took the role of the main character and Aaron took the role of the ghost. While for the mysterious guy role, I invited a close friend of mine, Melvin to play the role. I was given the task of directing everyone's part and recording the video.

We had a trial shoot on the day before to familiarize ourselves with the role and pre-arrange where the camera should be placed. Then. we proceed the shoot the next day. We actually had a few sudden changes on the day, however we manager to tackle them and smoothly as well as successfully finishing our shoot. Special thanks to my friend as well as he stayed the whole shoot and helped us even though he was done after the first scene.
Link To Scenes

EDITING & EXPERIMENTING

After the shoot, I edited a rough cut for Mr Martin to consult. He stated that we need to remove me in scene 1 and remove the hand which push the door in scene 2. We separated our task to Guan Yu edit scene 1, Aaron edit scene 2 and I edit scene 3 and incharge of the Unity scene. To be honest, I was quite stress haha as I have 0 knowledge on Unity. 
Link To Rough Cut Video

UNITY

I consulted with Mr Martin and we planned to let viewers move freely and shake the ghost's hand in the third scene. I started with a few tutorials and begin my experiment in Unity. To slot in the 360 scene in Unity, I followed this tutorial. 


I followed the tutorial step by step and after a zillions of tries and errors, I successfully slot in the video to Unity. I think I did like 4 to 5 hours just to slot the video in even though the tutorial is like 3 minutes. 

Figure 1.1 Scene 3 In Unity

The next step after putting in the 360 video is to make the camera angle move, adding in 3D asset hands and a player controller. However, as I slowly dig in more deep into tutorials and how to manage the idea, I found out that I require a VR headset to fulfill the ideation as I need to adjust the assets and camera angle in VR mode. I quickly consulted Mr Martin the next day to consult on the issues. Mr Martin felt that it's gonna be super difficult and time consuming if we involved in using VR Headset in the remaining one week timeline. Therefore, he suggested maybe to initiate Plan B, which is adding in hands and effects to the 360 video.

After unifying my opinions with Mr Martin, I proceed on editing the video in scene 3 in Adobe Premiere Pro. I started by cropping Guan Yu's hand and Aaron (The Ghost) out by using Ultra Keying to remove the green screen and adjust the backgrounds' tone. Then, I crop the left, right, top and bottom to the subject I wanted.

Figure 1.2 Hand Editing

Figure 1.3 Ghost Editing

After cropping them out, I imported them to Scene 3. I proceed in tuning the position of the ghost and hand. Then, I added a VR Chroma Leaks to the ghost to make it have a suddenly appear and disappear effect. After tuning everything, I adjusted the brightness and the colour contrast for the scene.

Figure 1.4 Combination Of Scene 3

After completing my part, I combined scene 1 and 2 together with my scene. I adjust the overall brightness and colour contrast for the first 2 scenes and editing the sound audio.

Figure 1.5 Colour Adjusting Whole Video
Link To Edited Scenes
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/17fLTiKOpcVTCt6wlutjd9Y9DhVNmRU3N?usp=drive_link

FIRST VERSION

Youtube Link
https://youtu.be/QhMcDlBXCEk
After completing the editing, I upload to Youtube and let Mr Martin consult. He suggested to just let the ghost disappear when the viewer try to reach out to the ghost instead of making them handshake. We also faced a bit of issues with the video quality as the first two scenes wasn't as clear as my third scene.

SECOND VERSION

Youtube Link
https://youtu.be/lK8-xXHwWhA
After completing the editing, I upload to Youtube and let Mr Martin consult the second time. For scene 1, he suggested to add in fade in and out as well as a few second at the front for the title as title overlapping with the main character may cause viewers to be confuse. As for scene 2. he suggested that the ghost should fade in and change the opacity. The ghost should be transparent, as in Scene 3, and fade out later rather than suddenly disappearing. Complement this with sound effects while the ghost appears and disappears. Scene 2 should end with a fade to black. While for scene 3, Mr Martin suggest to start from a black screen with heavy breathing sounds from the main character then fade into the footage to imply a P.O.V. perspective. Same as scene 2, use sound effects while the ghost appears and disappears. The ghost should raise his hand first, implying an intention to shake hands. Only the main character's hand should enter the frame from the bottom, not suddenly showing the palm and reach out. Before the main character's hand reaches the ghost, the ghost disappears.

I started by re-adjusting scene 3, I added a black screen in the front and re-adjusted the timing of the hand and the ghost to raise their hand. I also added a zoom in short animation before the ghost and the hand appear. After adjusting all the necessary changes, I exported scene 3 and combined with the other scenes. 

For the combining part, I added the transition VR Iris Wipe and VR Gradient Wipe in between scenes. I also added in audio for scene 2 and 3. For scene 2's audio, I added a pan effect so that viewers can feel the audio calling from left and right. After all of that, I compile the file and upload to Youtube.

Figure 1.6 Audio / Pan Effect

Link To Audio Asset
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1cQqw6S530rS40HtV5238pDQ6e_0Jkc0U?usp=drive_link

FINAL 360 VIDEO SHORT FILM


Youtube Link
https://youtu.be/dQTzKjKf3l4

FINAL IDEATION PROPOSAL


Takeaways
  • Unfortunately, I couldn't complete the 360 video in Unity in a remaining one week timeline, I was quite looking forward to the outcome.
  • Apparently high spec camera need high spec laptops, require minimum a 16 GB Graphic Card and 32 GB Ram to render and run the 360 video smoothly. My Macbook spec not high enough :)
Figure 1.6 Burning Graphic Card And Ram

Task Separation Overview

1. Guan Yu

Ideation Proposal
  • Brainstorming Ideation & Storyline
  • Emotion mapping
  • Theme
  • Genre
  • Screen board
Video Shooting
  • Play the role of "The Main Character"
Editing
  • Scene 1

2. Aaron (Huang Jia Qi)

Ideation Proposal
  • Brainstorming Ideation & Storyline
  • Screen board
Video Shooting
  • Play the role of "The Ghost"
Editing
  • Scene 2

3. Karyee

Ideation Proposal
  • Brainstorming Ideation & Storyline
  • Objective
  • Problem Statement
  • Keywords
  • Participant Point Of View
  • Story Outline
  • Scene Breakdown:
  • Floor Plan With Camera And Character Position
Video Shooting
  • Directed shooting & camera girl
Editing
  • Scene 3
  • Overall compilation
  • Audios

FEEDBACK

WEEK 13

  • Ideation sounds okay, just need to adjust some minor details

WEEK 14

  • Suggested maybe to initiate Plan B, which is adding in hands and effects to the 360 video.
  • let the ghost disappear when the viewer try to reach out to the ghost instead of making them handshake. 

REFLECTION

Working on 360 Video Short Film has been a fun ride where I got to enhance my skills and knowledge in ideation and video shooting. Besides, it was new experience as it was my first time using the Insta360 Pro 2 in a video shoot. Moreover, we have the opportunity to analyze and explore different type of shooting method and see how profesional share their knowledge in the specific field. This project was challenging yet interesting for me as I need to combine creativity and video shooting, however with the guidance I got from Mr Martin and my friends, I managed to finish the tasks.

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