Tech Spec: Decoding The Inside Tahiti Project
Surf videos are great. Turn one on, sit down, and watch away until you find the motivation to go surf. But up until now even the most diabolically choreographed water shots didn’t put you solely in the drivers seat. Well, that’s all changed with Red Bull’s latest brainchild: Inside Tahiti.
Developed by Immersive Media Corp. and originally used by the quick-witted folks at Google Earth to aid with their street mapping technology, a few of the surfers at Red Bull thought it might be a good idea to strap the 25-pound hard-drive and camera to their backs and pull into the heaviest waves ever ridden in Tahiti.
So, what do you get when you combine the biggest swell to hit Teahupoo in
years with space-age video technology? Easy. You get the best view, or should we say views, of the famed Tahitian lefthander…and you get to control the view. It works like this: Thanks to Immersive Media’s 360-degree spherical video camera, a technology that uses a specially designed camera housing to capture eleven separate video streams, as well as their production and post-production platforms, all of the streams are arranged according to geodesic geometry to create a complete spherical image; in other words, a high-resolution, 360-degree view of Teahupoo’s innards. By putting viewers in the director’s seat and giving them the
ability to look in all directions, the technology creates a first-of-its-kind video experience that gives viewers the feeling of actually being part of the action.
“I think we’ve made a small bit of history with this project,” tells test-pilot Jamie O’Brien, who, along with Jamie Sterling, Raimana Van Bastolaer, and Ian Walsh, had the audacity to strap 25 pounds of electrical
equipment to his back and huck himself into the pit. “The video experience that we’ve captured is a first. The view that someone gets by controlling the footage is a perspective that even I've never had until now.”
“We’ve captured a totally new perspective of riding inside the barrel,” says Josh Kendrick, surf team manager for Red Bull. “By taking control of the camera, viewers become participants in the action - not just observers.”
With a simple manipulation of the computer mouse, the viewer can look to the left or right, up or down, front or back. Since the observer controls the camera angle, each viewing of the video can be a completely different and unique experience. So, next time you put on a surf video you may not be sprinting out the door to hit up your 2-foot beachbreaks. After all, why grovel in the slop when you can virtually stand tall in the biggest tube of the year?
So, what do you get when you combine the biggest swell to hit Teahupoo in
years with space-age video technology? Easy. You get the best view, or should we say views, of the famed Tahitian lefthander…and you get to control the view. It works like this: Thanks to Immersive Media’s 360-degree spherical video camera, a technology that uses a specially designed camera housing to capture eleven separate video streams, as well as their production and post-production platforms, all of the streams are arranged according to geodesic geometry to create a complete spherical image; in other words, a high-resolution, 360-degree view of Teahupoo’s innards. By putting viewers in the director’s seat and giving them theability to look in all directions, the technology creates a first-of-its-kind video experience that gives viewers the feeling of actually being part of the action.
“I think we’ve made a small bit of history with this project,” tells test-pilot Jamie O’Brien, who, along with Jamie Sterling, Raimana Van Bastolaer, and Ian Walsh, had the audacity to strap 25 pounds of electrical
equipment to his back and huck himself into the pit. “The video experience that we’ve captured is a first. The view that someone gets by controlling the footage is a perspective that even I've never had until now.”
“We’ve captured a totally new perspective of riding inside the barrel,” says Josh Kendrick, surf team manager for Red Bull. “By taking control of the camera, viewers become participants in the action - not just observers.”
With a simple manipulation of the computer mouse, the viewer can look to the left or right, up or down, front or back. Since the observer controls the camera angle, each viewing of the video can be a completely different and unique experience. So, next time you put on a surf video you may not be sprinting out the door to hit up your 2-foot beachbreaks. After all, why grovel in the slop when you can virtually stand tall in the biggest tube of the year?
All that expensive, dangerous, difficult camera equipment to work with and all you need was a Surf Camera for under $400.00 with a simple attachment to any wetsuit.
See a better way do to that at www.SurfCamera.com