How 360° video became the ultimate ‘empathy enabler’ for the Paralympics
Using technology and storytelling to change perceptions, share emotions, and build a more empathetic world
Immediately after the glitz and glam of the Olympic Games, another important and powerful event happens — the Paralympic Games. Yet regardless of its positive impact, the Paralympics has historically struggled to garner as much attention as the Olympics, both from the media and general public.
The Rio 2016 Olympic committee hired me to help change that, not just to get more attention, but also to change perceptions. We wanted to showcase the enormous amount of work para athletes put into training, and the emotions they feel when representing their country on a global stage.
Their stories were compelling and needed just the right mix of new media and storytelling techniques to see if we could “change the game,” while garnering more attention for a powerful event.
And to our audience’s excitement, we did!
By using the power of new techniques in 360° storytelling, we were able to help ordinary people and viewers step inside the “shoes” of a Paralympic athlete, enabling them to empathize with the journey, while also helping them to understand and see the magic of the Paralympic Games.
It didn’t come easy though. Here’s how we pulled it off, the challenges we faced, and what we learned.
Point of View: How Do We Get Viewers to Feel Like the Athletes?
Our ultimate goal was to make it possible for ordinary people to experience what it’s like to be a Paralympic athlete today, and walk away with a deeper appreciation for the seemingly insurmountable challenges they face getting there. This was a pretty tall order, cutting edge technology or not. End to end, we had only two weeks to make our vision a reality.
Our decision to use 360° video was not because it’s a trending technology, but because it enables viewers to experience the point of view of a Paralympic athlete. It’s truly an “empathy enabler.”
For each athlete, we created an application that used 360° video and recorded flat video interviews of 1:30 minutes. It wasn’t easy, especially trying to match the point of view of a blind athlete; it’s simply not that intuitive or clear where to put the camera.
This made the storytelling process more challenging, but it allowed us to portray the difficulty of telling a visual story from a blind person’s perspective while engaging an external audience in a sensitive and delicate issue. We also wanted to break the intangible barriers that sometimes distance people with full faculties from those who are differently abled.
Production: Tips and Tricks
We placed the point of view in the center of Karla’s judo tatami (a traditional judo mat) match, as well as in the center of Tiago’s football pitch where we could rotate and follow the ball.
Another trick we discovered was to make the cameraman “invisible” by dressing him in a kimono and sitting him next to other athletes on the tatami. When a user browses, all they can see is another “athlete” sitting on the floor (holding the now invisible camera rig). We camouflaged our cameraman in order to make the scene more relatable!
In Tiago’s football match, we added a sound cue to the ball. Notice the rattles inside the ball, as well as the way the blind players screamed to ask for the ball as they moved towards it.
“What makes virtual reality such a compelling medium is “presence”: this moment when your brain totally forgets the VR headset you are wearing, or the interface you are using. You then just believe that you are somewhere else and/or someone else. To do so, as a 360 video producer, you need to use some tricks, like blending in the environment or erasing your camera tripod in postproduction.” — Anh-Hoa TRUONG, VR journalist and consultant
Promotion: How We Got our Viewers Engaged
Next, we started to tease the stories on social media with a one minute introduction of the four athletes before we released the full videos.
Each final short film is emotionally intense. The athletes share their experience of how Paralympic sport has personally transformed their lives.
The sentiments the athletes expressed were real and raw. It is often only when they play sport that the public perceives them as ‘normal’ people.
Jonathan used to be ridiculed for his short stature, and now people start crying with pride when he represents his country in sport.
Wilians, who was blinded as a child in a shooting accident, went on to become the world heavyweight champion in judo.
All of the stories make full use of 360° video to create a powerful, lasting impact and to challenge preconceptions about people with an impairment.
What We Ultimately Learned
Because of our time constraints, we completed the project in our two week window, the time we had between the end of the Olympic Games and the start of the Paralympic Games. Our partner was 6D, a Brazilian agency we serendipitously met on Ipanema beach one Sunday morning.
They instantly understood our vision of using storytelling technology to fight prejudice, break down barriers, and increase understanding. And that’s how we decided to work together.
Using technology and the power of interactive storytelling, we aimed to immerse the users in what it means to be a Paralympic athlete. Creating empathy and sharing life stories brings people together. At the end of the Paralympics the arenas were full and Rio 2016 Paralympics was a success. In Brazil the difference was celebrated and cheered.
The Future
VR journalist Anh-Hoa TRUONG understands the potential of 360 video:
“We can already all witness an event or share parts of our life with smartphones and action cameras, sometimes in a first person view perspective. Now, it becomes easier and easier to create 360° degree videos and publish them. Companies like Nikon or Samsung produce consumer grade spherical cameras and Facebook or Youtube are compatible with 360° degree content. Thus, a form of 360° citizen journalism will rise soon.”
It’s already rising. Now, we in Brazil want to take this project to the next level, engage the country as a whole, and turn the audience and users into content creators of their own 360° community experience. Imagine the Carnival viewed from all the different states of Rio, all in one global experience. How can we teach more Brazilians to capture and create their own experiences through the lens of 360° video?
Ultimately, we want to democratize 360° technology and tell this story together, leading to what will hopefully be a more empathetic Brazil and world.
