Virtual Reality is becoming more and more common for gaming, specialty training, and even as part of massive events like the recently held Internaitonal DOTA 2 Championship at the Key Arena in Seattle. The challenge is that not a lot of people currently own the VR hardware or have the computing power needed to run it effectively.
Using Video to show off Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality
That’s why it was exciting to be part of Valve and HTC’s VR Experience event at the Fisher Pavilion in Seattle in August. Jacob Stone, CEO of Punch Drunk headed up the project by creating several VR and Mixed Reality (MR) rooms where attendees of the DOTA 2 Championship could try out several cutting edge games using the Vive headset and also see themselves in Mixed Reality. Pixel Bokeh Productions was brought onboard to help document the VR Experience and create daily vignettes that consisted of interviews developers, in-game VR footage, and responses from players. These videos were streamed live during the event to large plasma screens around the championship as well as streamed online via the Valve Twitch channel.
Onsite Interviews and Editing with FCPX
With a crew of three, we did 39 interviews over six days and created 14 unique pieces of content for the event. We had two onsite FCP X editing stations that consisted of a 5K Retnia iMac and a Retina MacBook Pro. Our main camera systems were the Canon C300 and the DJI OSMO with the X5 Camera. We were able to capture in-game VR and composited MR content from Punch Drunks switcher which was routed to an Atmos Shogun.
A number of challenges were faced during the production including nose from several large mega screens around the tent, heat (the tent had AC but got hot in the afternoons), and we battled a lot of mixed lighting issues in the space.
Filming interviews at the Virtual Reality Experience tent at the Fisher Pavilion in Seattle.
The need to control the lighting in the tent for the VR and Mixed Reality set ups meant that it was difficult for people walking by outside to see what exactly was going on. By creating the video content and interviews, passers by were able to see what was happening and hear about the exciting experiences that people were having trying Valve and HTC’s Virtual Reality experience.
Einar Johnson using the DJI OSMO with the X5 Camera filming Mixed Reality.
Good Video Content Adds to An Event
Valve was also able to use the video content we created in-between matches of the DOTA 2 Championship taking place in the Key Arena. This allowed attendees to find out about the VR Experience tent and we quickly noticed a massive amount of people showing up after the first few broadcasts.
Pixel Bokeh Productions had two on-site editing states with Final Cut Pro X for the event.
The benefit of creating video content during live events is invaluable. Productions are able to shape the media message that is going out online about the reaction of the event and ensuring it’s both enthusiastic and accurate. They are also creating sticky content that can be shared on social networks and achieved for use later to promote future events.
The Punch Drunk Crew taking checking the live video stream on various mobile devices.
Here’s the BTS video we created for Punch Drunk:
Pixel Bokeh Productions was proud to be part of the team with Punch Drunk Productions to provide video production to create engaging content and document such an engaging and interactive Virtual Reality experience here in Seattle.
Pixel Bokeh Productions
Providing video production services for corporate, non-profit, and education in the greater Seattle area.
Phone: 206.659.1629
Email: info@pixelbokeh.com
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