Thread by @heyproto

Coming up in less than 2 hours! Our speakers today are @TheQuint's @aaqibrk, @BBCIndia's @BBCVikas, x @CNNnews18 @Wayseller and @RajanZaveri, and they'll be showcasing and talking about storytelling that brings together text, audio, video and more. #HeyMediaImmersives

We'll start with @aaqibrk, who will discuss how to get started with immersive storytelling, especially in the media landscape. #HeyMediaImmersives

After that, @BBCVikas will lay out some of the formats used in immersive storytelling, and what impact they have. #HeyMediaImmersives

Next up is @Wayseller, who will tell us when to use and NOT use immersive journalism. #HeyMediaImmersives

And @RajanZaveri will wrap up the session by showing us how still photography can be used to create immersive experiences. #HeyMediaImmersives

@aaqibrk The question is: how to tell a story differently? Formats, segments, technology--there are so many options. How can you best engage the audience? #HeyMediaImmersives

@aaqibrk One of the most overused formats is 360 video - and a common question is, what’s the story? How is it relevant? #HeyMediaImmersives

@aaqibrk We need to recognise that people are using 360 for the first time, so we make the instructions for the most immersive experience a part of the story. #HeyMediaImmersives

@aaqibrk “There’s no specific focus to it, and there’s a tendency to use it as a gimmick” Stories that lend themselves to 360 are those where you want the audience to be a part of the story. Knowing when to use 360 vs a documentary is just as important as using it. #HeyMediaImmersives

@aaqibrk Documentaries mean the frame is the extent of the view. What is excluded is also outside of narrative. With 360, there is no frame, you let the audience control the focus, and its framing. There’s no [narrative] gatekeeping. #HeyMediaImmersives

@aaqibrk “360 takes time to load, publishers need to factor that in, and place them at the bottom of the page, or risk losing readers.” There needs to be enough to keep the audience’s attention while the backend loads. #HeyMediaImmersives

@aaqibrk Example of where 360 shines - allowing you to experience the spaces people occupy - where they live, where they work and their relationship with navigating space. This story uses 360 to do this: bit.ly/2LjyVZN #HeyMediaImmersives

@BBCVikas Echoing Aaqib, Vikas also says: “You need to ask yourself why? Can I tell the same story through another medium? Will immersive storytelling add to it?” #HeyMediaImmersives

@BBCVikas He takes us through the BBC film A Trek Through the Skies: to show us how 360 can do great things to filmmaking but also how technology can mess that up. #HeyMediaImmersives

@BBCVikas Understanding the relationship between technology and narratives is dependent on avoiding repetition. The story of two girls taking 7 hours to go school crossing a harrowing bridge - what does immersive do a picture, a video or a descriptive paragraph can’t? #HeyMediaImmersives

@BBCVikas You [the audience] get to go with them. “The story did well because 360 was an element and not a gimmick.” #HeyMediaImmersives

@BBCVikas “For 360 to work best, always keep your subject three feet away.” Vikas muses on the difficulty of doing just that at the kumbh mela for this video: #HeyMediaImmersives

@BBCVikas Certain paint/canvas apps allow you to use the entire space around you as a canvas. Combining this with 360 can take you from passive observation to active narration. #HeyMediaImmersives

@BBCVikas He shows us Goodbye Father, a film about the farming crisis bringing a new perspective to shake us out of apathy around the subject: #HeyMediaImmersives

@BBCVikas Vikas muses that 360 documentary has a lot in common with theatre, esp. transitioning scenes. Even without directional audio, you can gently nudge the audience to where they should focus. #HeyMediaImmersives

@Wayseller Adi also stresses on when to use immersive. A common concern clearly. He also talks about how immersive stories can be built in different ways, a combination of text, audio, video, 360 and VR or largely video, 360 and/or VR. #HeyMediaImmersives

@Wayseller He shows us a film that looks at the impact of suspicion on vaccination rates in Pakistan, when the Taliban thought that vaccinators were spies for the Americans: …lsecurityzone.medill.northwestern.edu/pandemic/polio… #HeyMediaImmersives

@Wayseller 360 is ideal for places that are inaccessible, as a way to transport the audience to a place in time and space. “Making people feel the claustrophobia of small space, and feeling like the are in these contained spaces is where 360 trumps traditional video” #HeyMediaImmersives

@Wayseller “Don’t do 360 unless you have the right equipment, the right story and the right reasons to do it, no matter what your editor says.” #HeyMediaImmersives

@RajanZaveri Rajan opens with a project he did some years ago, and walks us through the interactive potential of 360 storytelling: rajanzaveri.com/portfolio_page… #HeyMediaImmersives

@RajanZaveri Then he discusses how to storyboard an immersive story. It's very important to map out all that needs documenting, what needs to be said, and what medium works best for which. That map will keep all the pieces in place. #HeyMediaImmersives

@RajanZaveri But one problem is who to pitch these stories too. Once he made the Bawana Colony interactive story, he found that news organisations simply didn’t know what to make of something where the narrative isn’t at the command of the writer, but that of the reader. #HeyMediaImmersives

@RajanZaveri Human rights organisations however, were thrilled to see something like this because it allowed them bring the viewer into these space they never see and trigger an emotional connection that is invaluable. #HeyMediaImmersives

@RajanZaveri That, essentially, is the power of immersive storytelling: It makes the lived lives that we cannot imagine into something relatable. It alters the dynamic of observation, by making it active and personal, and impossible to ignore. #HeyMediaImmersives

@RajanZaveri It can be overwhelming to even think about all the elements that go into planning these stories. He recommends that you check out docubase.mit.edu/project/ and see what other projects are doing to figure out elements and scale and so on. #HeyMediaImmersives

@RajanZaveri Also shout out to freeware xmind, a great storyboarding tool for multi-medium projects. There's also Youtube. "I learned EVERYTHING on Youtube."

And it's a wrap on #HeyMediaImmersives. See you next Friday at PROTO for another fun meetup. Have ideas for topics, speakers, etc? DM us.