But what is VR? And what is the difference between a 360 degree video and a VR video?
VR and 360 degree video are both under the banner of “Virtual Reality” but are fundamentally different. VR is an immersive computer generated environment that you can physically walk around in and interact with, much like a computer game. Unlike 360 degree video which is a cinematic video experience where you can look around in all directions but have limited to no interactive capacity.
What makes both of these so difficult to understand on paper, is that it is really only once you experience them that the difference becomes apparent.
360 degree video is the more accessible of the two as it can be accessed on any smartphone via YouTube or Facebook which increases its scope of business use.
Some of the benefits of 360 degree video include:
- Transporting the viewer somewhere they can’t otherwise be. The CEO can visit a distant work site with the click of a button instead of a four day site visit. Colleagues from across the globe can tour the new Headquarters anywhere in the world.
- One 360 degree video tour can be accessed by millions of people and because the sensation is so ‘real’ they can feel as if they’ve been on a personal tour.
- The retention of information is far greater than any other form of communication as the viewer is there 'inside’ the presentation, according to the IEEE Virtual reality for training: evaluating knowledge retention.
VR and 360 degree video might seem expensive, complicated and hard-to-do, but Global Access proves that these new mediums are none of those. As one of very few companies in South Africa capable of producing both VR and 360 degree video, Global Access recognizes the utility and impact of these new mediums and produces cost-effective VR and 360 degree video.
The real question is: What are you doing to join the revolution?
“A story doesn't point you there, it puts you there. In a sense, a story is a form of transportation. It lifts you from where you are and carries you to another time and another place,” says Roy Peter Clark, journalist and one of the directors of the Poynter Institute.
Global Access is at the forefront of providing 360 degree video stories and facilitating journeys into the realm of virtual reality.