Application : Applying Teleportation to Theater Production ( not viable )

 Filming 360 video of  Theater Production

The ideal application from the VR experiment is to apply the stop motion camera movement technique into the filming of theater production. The theater brings the live experience happening in real-time to the audience seated at a distance from the stage. The more the audience pays , the closer the vantage point to the stage. 

With the new 360 VR experience, the audience can actually be on the stage and be transported point to point to different vantage point on the stage for different scenes. 

The cameraman will be missing from the shot for the audience to enjoy the full 360 view stage experience without breaking the immersion.

There are two possible 1st person continuity the camera can film in :

• The invisible standing audience watching the scene on stage and walking to a different location during a change of scene or a momentary pause or move towards the action.
  
  Eg. the 360 video can move into the intimate space in between the two actors when they whisper sweet nothing to each other. This facial closeup POV will be impossible without a 360 camera.
  
  
•  The invisible actor who participates in the scene. The single identity and continuity of the 1st person should be preserved and maintained. The 360 film should not switch multiple identities of multiple actors.   
  

Theater Production Research

The only way to do the research is to experience a theater production myself. After attending one , I realized that my stop motion camera technique will have challenges if I want to use this method for theater production. 

(1) Staging Design : the movement of and positioning of the actors are orientated  towards where the audience are seated. Especially for a small theater production , the audience are very close to the stage and have a good view of all happenings on the stage. There is no reason to move the camera on the stage and even there is one would require a revamp of staging design just for 360 video production.

(2) Stage Lighting : There are multiple lighting on the stage, that would cast a shadow on the camera and tripod that will  take a lot of effort to edit.

Conclusion : Due to the challenges mentioned above, it is not viable within the scope of NYP final project to film a theater production using the stop motion camera technique.