Xplore: A Future Virtual Reality Project

I'm bored of being bored, so therefore I think it's time to set something in motion that I've been looking into for a while now. Tomorrow I should hopefully be receiving my Samsung Gear camera, a first generation "360" camera which are becoming widely known for their use in filming amateur virtual reality content. I'm really looking forward to playing with it and using it to film some hopefully well-received stuff.

So why Virtual Reality? 

Last year I began playing around with the idea of doing video tours of places. The premise seemed pretty straight-forward; I'd head out to places of historical interest and film them and myself waffling on for a few minutes about the historical importance of the place. I did actually start doing it on a previous blog and Youtube account that has since been deleted, but "something" was missing from them. I'll be the first to accept that I'm not the world's best orator, far from it in fact, but I don't think it was me that was the issue. There was something really quite boring about rocking up to an old church or castle somewhere and filming it, no matter how important it might be historically, or how well I worded the facts.

Around the same time I was starting this off (filming with my phone I hasten to add), Virtual Reality headsets like Google Cardboard began to float around and become more prominent. After indulging in a cheap plastic Chinese knock-off, I was instantly interested in the technology, not so much for entertainment purposes, but for education. With a quick look on Youtube today with a Cardboard device, you can experience anything from swimming with sharks, to the moon landings. Even landing on the icy plains of Pluto! The potential for learning with VR in my opinion far outstrips the entertainment value. It also allows us to explore things that we might not otherwise get a chance to do in our lives. 

With the video project I had envisioned before, I suddenly became aware of how much better it could be if it implemented Virtual Reality. Instead of just waffling on with a single frame of a building, event or place, somebody could actually "be there". Unfortunately it's taken me since February to decide on a camera, and the camera I decided on is still not even released properly yet (as it's been ordered straight from the Samsung website instead of from a retailer.) There were a few options available, most of them unaffordable, and those that were affordable were of a totally awful quality. The Samsung Gear kind of sits on the fence between both affordability and quality. But I guess I'll see what the quality is actually like tomorrow.

Aside from the historic places, I also want to do regular camping and outdoors videos (although probably not as regularly as I might want.) Right now on my desk is a notepad with a long list of locations all over the United Kingdom I'd like to go to and film with this camera in the near future, but really if I'm totally honest, this project is merely an excuse to get me out there and visit them. If others can get some enjoyment from them, then that's an added bonus. This isn't totally altruistic though, as I'm hoping these videos might become somewhat popular for books that I intend to write. Ah, capitalism.