Episode 1 of the Ray Roman Podcast: Ricoh Theta 360° Video Review
Episode 1 of the Ray Roman Podcast is based off a blog post written in September of 2015 about the Ricoh Theta M15 360‑degree spherical digital camera, virtual realtiy, social media and the future of 360-video. Use the links below that are referenced in the podcast.
Original Blog Post - Ricoh Theta 360° Video/Review: http://rayromanmedia.com/blog/2015/9/5/ricoh-theta-360-videos
Good Morning Test #6 with Ricoh Theta M15: www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIvgriEnEVU
360° Vacation In Texas: www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wf-NA_cWoYQ
San Diego 360°: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhUnr-uucEY
My 360-degree video playlist on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxiQOacgqS-QD9BdunHx-OovZGD8swwU5
As stated in the podcast - some of the 360° videos listed above will not playback properly on all devices. All 360-videos must be played back on the YouTube app on mobile devices, and on Google Chrome, Firefox, and Opera on the desktop. 360-degree videos do playback on Facebook if originally uploaded to Facebook such as this San Diego 360° link: https://www.facebook.com/RayRomanMedia/videos/10153775693084668/
Thanks for listening and don’t forget to ‘Follow’ if you enjoyed!
Split Borders (360° Video)
Split Borders is a 360° video that was shot on the San Diego/Tijuana border. Directed by David Kano, and shot/edited by myself. We wanted to show what it was like being just a few feet away from the United Stares/Mexico border and how different the two sides are. While we were there, we were approached by a Border Patrol agent who seemed to think we were trying to set him up. It was an odd standoff situation that started our day of filming in a bizarre manner.
San Diego 360°
This is a 360° video. It may or may not work for you depending on what device you're watching it from. On your mobile device if you copy and paste the following link into the YouTube search bar you should be able to playback the video correctly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhUnr-uucEY
In this San Diego 360° video you can go on a virtual tour to many of San Diego's Historic Landmarks and tourist locations. Enjoy!
Using Snapchat to Create Short Films
Ever since Snapchat created the 'My Story' feature I have used the mobile app to create on the fly made up short stories, as well as what most people use the app for which is capturing what they're doing at that moment in their lives. Recently the app allows you to download your story, instead of these great moments disappearing into thin air - which we know isn't entirely true since essentially what gets posted to the internet stays on the internet or in some database somewhere. Just last week Snapchat now allows you to record your videos while the music on your phone continues to play, whereas before if you were listening to music it would stop the music while you hold down the record button. I've wanted this feature for so long and glad it's finally possible to incorporate audio playing from your phone in your Snapchat videos. I took the short film idea a step further when this was made possible and made a little short film titled 'The Unknown' being that I had no idea what kind of story I was going to create, again I was just creating on the fly.
Below is a trailer I made of my Snapchat story I downloaded, and posted it to Instagram to lead more friends to follow me on Snapchat as well.
I've previously wrote about using the in-camera editing technique with 8mm film, Vine, and now the same thing is possible with Snapchat, minus the time limitations that Vine gives you. I think with the capabilities these apps provide, it could help beginning filmmakers learn the basics of filmmaking, or even turn someone onto becoming a filmmaker if they learn to love creating stories to tell their friends in a creative way. However, I know most people aren't using Snapchat "creatively", but for those who are it's interesting to see what the possibilities are for the future of filmmaking.
Personally, I've been using these apps to tell short stories, create highlight videos, or as a trailer to lead people onto seeing the full video (as seen above). For the most part I've been using Instagram to create highlight videos also known as "montage sequences" of family events. Anybody can create a montage these days, especially with apps such as Flipagram, or FlipClip but I believe there's an art to it that most people don't realize. Sure you can upload your photos into these apps, add some music and your on your way to posting your own montage, but to personally create your own montage there's a lot more that goes into to really create a feeling that gets across to the viewer. As an editor I try to lead the eye of the viewer through the choices I make of what clips should go together, where to make the cuts, what transition to create, and most importantly what music to use to drive the montage. For me it's a great exercise to create these short 15 second montage sequences for Instagram, and it's also nice to have these mini-highlight reels of a family event to look back on later on in life. I know a lot of people have old home movies that they never go back and watch, who really has the time? But when you have the capabilites that technology offers you today, and the apps to help showcase these moments, why not take advantage and create these short videos in the most entertaining way possible?
Below is one of my recent highlight videos, if you'd like to watch more follow me on Instagram/Snapchat @RaymondRoman and search under the hashtag #RayRomanVideo for more edited videos.
Looking Back at 2013
This is a highlight video of some of the work I shot and edited this year.
I'd like to continue editing something like this together every year as I have done in the past. Checkout the first 'Looking Back' video from 2009 below.