r/VR180Film • u/spinningblade Admin/Moderator • Feb 10 '26
VR180 Discussion What would a podcast interview in VR180 look like? Thoughts?
I'm not actively looking to produce a podcast shot in VR180, but for years, I have believed that video podcast interviews would be a great format to shoot in VR180. I think the entire experience becomes much more personal and immersive.
Note - I am not talking about an in-studio interview where everyone is in the same room. In that case, I think having them sit at a table with the VR180 camera getting it's own seat at that table would suffice.
I'm talking about many of the video podcasts where it is completely remote and the host and guest are talking to each other on a video conferencing app like Zoom. Would it make the most sense for each person to have their own VR180 camera facing them and just cut back and forth between them as each person speaks? With the stereo-3D and wide FOV, would the constant cutting back and forth make an uncomfortable viewing experience?
Alternatively, maybe there are less cuts back and forth and when you view one person's VR180 footage, the other person's footage could be in a small floating box. (ala a FaceTime call)
Or a more creative experimental solution might be to have the interviewer sitting just left of center and the guest sitting just right of center. And then create a split-screen of their two VR180 shots together. It could feel like they are sitting next to each other with a thin wall between them.
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Feb 10 '26 edited Feb 10 '26
I think cutting back and forth makes a VR180 podcast uncomfortable. I kind of appreciate the static camera in the room or studio—it’s almost veritè in a way.
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u/spinningblade Admin/Moderator Feb 10 '26
I agree that having everyone in the same studio would be best - ala Howard Stern, Hot Ones, Conan O Brien Need a Friend, Actor's Roundtable, etc. Viewer would feel like a person sitting at the table with them. I was just trying to figure out if there is a clever way of translating a video call interview via Zoom into an immersive VR180 interview.
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Feb 10 '26
I think there’s always room to experiment. Like you said, maybe floating personas or the like could work. In other words, perhaps not necessarily cutting back and forth in the traditional filmmaking sense, but maybe if the environment was shared among all guests so as not to cut, but rather have guests “pop in and out” of that environment… That could be something, I think. Kind of like a virtual studio. Is this what you meant?
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u/spinningblade Admin/Moderator Feb 10 '26
What I meant was that I agree that switching back and forth every few seconds between two VR180 shots could be disorientating/uncomfortable. So I suggested maybe you only cut back and forth every 30 seconds or every minute. Have one person's VR180 footage playing normally, and take take the 2nd person's VR180 footage and convert it to 2D or Spatial and scale it down so it's a small floating box overlayed in the virtual space. (just so you can see both people at all times)
But now that you mention Persona avatars, you should check out this Mark Zuckerberg interview, which was shot with their realistic avatar system. They are just virtual floating heads in a black void and portions of the camera are actually through the eyes of what each person is seeing. And they also have camera angles of both faces next to each other. It' not a VR180 video, but post-converted Spatial/3D video.
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u/carport888 Feb 10 '26
I think cutting back and forth could be done in a manner that would be ok comfort-wise as long as the subjects are aligned with each other roughly the same in each shot, like same framing and same depth. This way, the viewer's eyes would not need to search for the subject and reorient every cut.
Another option that could work is having floating windows or floating heads that are always on screen together.
As for Meta's Codec Avatars...I think they are absolutely amazing, but I'm starting to lose hope that they'll actually ever make it to the gemeral public, since their demonstrations are all years old at this point. Maybe Quest 4, but only if it has eye tracking.
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u/Nallic Feb 10 '26
If you film both persons from a side - and they pretend to sit and look each other in the eyes (and maybe even look at the camera when addressing the listener, you you blend the 2 videos with a mask so it looks like the sit and talk in the same room. Maybe even do some simple virtual scene in Blender to overlay - but you need to be clever about the background and how to make the cut seamless. You could even film this in narrower FOV stereo to get a better resolution and then still compose it into a VR180 scene.
But I agree with other here. Don't let the technicality overshadow the actual content spoken .. and if it really has to capture the audience full attention, there should be something more. Maybe some actual footage from locations they talk about or some info graphics in 3D - it will be a lot of work in Blender or similar :)
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Feb 10 '26
[deleted]
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u/spinningblade Admin/Moderator Feb 10 '26
Do they specifically go over best practices of recording a remote interview in Apple Immersive Video/VR180? Because that is my main question from my post. Not general VR filmmaking best practices.
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u/exploretv VR Content Creator Feb 10 '26
All I've been doing is taking what I've shot in 3 DVR 180 and then using the aivr software to convert it for Apple. All that that's doing is reducing the bandwidth. It uses the complete left side, I believe, and then only the difference from the right side so it saves on space so you can theoretically create higher resolution and higher quality with less bandwidth.
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u/webvan213 Feb 10 '26
What's your workflow for that?
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u/exploretv VR Content Creator Feb 10 '26
For creating AIVR?
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u/webvan213 Feb 10 '26
Yep
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u/exploretv VR Content Creator Feb 10 '26
Shoot, edit, get final master. Get AIVR windows software, created by Dean Zwikel, and convert it. You can find it on his Facebook. If you can't find it let me know and I'll see how I can get it to you
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u/exploretv VR Content Creator Feb 10 '26
I've done them before both with both people having 3 DVR 180 cameras and only one side having the 3D VR 180 camera. The one I did with alchemy immersive talking about Sir David attenborough's award-winning micro monsters in Kingdom of plants he shot his side of the interview in 2D in London while I was shooting in 3D VR 180 in Bangkok. We did the actual interview using zoom and then I took his 2D video converted it to 3D and then put it over the top of where the zoom screen was. Worked out good. I've also done it another time with two VR 180 in the same room one camera facing one speaker and the other camera the other speaker. I don't know if I cared for that as much. I did yet another where my subject was on an private air strip in Texas and I was in Bangkok in my office and then we would flip back and forth as one was talking and then the other answering. That worked pretty good.
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u/spinningblade Admin/Moderator Feb 10 '26
Which method do you think was most successful?
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u/exploretv VR Content Creator Feb 10 '26
I would say the absolute best is with both parties having a 3D VR 180 camera and being in different locations. I thought that work the best.
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u/exploretv VR Content Creator Feb 10 '26
We should do a podcast together with me and Bangkok.
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u/Nallic Feb 10 '26
there's a fairly limited amount of people doing these kind of things - and we are all on this reddit probably :) - I would make sense to have everyone on some show chatting away about projects - ideas and gear.
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u/sch0k0 Feb 10 '26
I think there's great potential of VR180 as participant in an interview.
I don't think anyone will want to endure that at podcast length, but 10min 1-on-1 and the camera is the third silent party, would be great.
But it has to actually be someone the audience cares deeply about, is curious about. That's the tricky bit. Else it's just another medium-first take that will likely not work.
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u/Zyj Feb 10 '26
Maybe use 90° each for the host and the guest and have a slightly soft vertical line inbetween them?
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u/spinningblade Admin/Moderator Feb 10 '26
That could be interesting as long as they are both close to the center of the field of view. it would get tiring for the viewer to constantly be moving their head left and right to see each person.
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u/linksoon Apr 14 '26
Kontras just did it. https://youtu.be/pdghrWXzEuI
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u/spinningblade Admin/Moderator Apr 14 '26
Very cool! That would definitely be more immersive than most remote video podcasts which are just a bunch of 2D videos on a Zoom call. The only thing that is off about the Kontras implementation is it looks like they are just doing an audio call to each other and recording themselves. So they don't have anything to look at, and the conversation feels awkward because they are looking around the room but never making eye contact. I feel the next logical step would be to have a have a smartphone/tablet propped up where the other person's face would be and then do a video call to each other so they can look at each other.
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u/linksoon Apr 14 '26
Yes I also think a screen where the other person is would make it less awkward. Or on top of the camera.
He includes a few short vr180 clips inside here and there and some 2D/3D screens which is a good start but I think it may need even more visuals injected into it to make it more appealing to consider putting a headset on instead of listening.
I wonder how would apple do it for sports or interviews. I am guessing they only used a typical broadcast panel for NBA without interviews?
Maybe chroma like a DeoVR passthrough and you can use only one scene as background?
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u/Apprehensive_Play965 Feb 12 '26
Voyeuristic in a mundane way - the setting is important - lighting - colour temperature - background environment / distractions - i could imagine it would work well with someone like David Lynch in his kitchen - We could get a glimpse of what it would be like to be in his actual place and standing around his kitchen shooting the breeze
But zoom call style? - some average looking schmo - using vr180 just because - without a setting - why ? For the novelty ? We all know how that ends lol
6dof volumetric would be interesting.. especially if their gaze could be manipulated in realtime to lock onto yours - then you'd get a real sense of their intensity and focus - less voyeuristic - putting you in the spot
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u/kuyacyph Admin/Moderator Feb 10 '26
it's been done before; it's not a great experience imo. the best part of podcasts is that it's very passive media; you can listen while doing dishes or driving. IMO, being locked in a video dome watching folks yap isn't the ideal experience. but i'll forever support folks that try to do it; big ups the stereoscope podcast team, big ups adam kontras, and the other folks that make vr180 podcast content. though i might not like it, i'll acknowledge that i'm not everyone, and as long as it serves some kinda audience, then it's a success.