Analysis of Immersive Reporting Works

In order to further understand the application mode, advantages and disadvantages of immersive reporting, this paper selects three typical works for analysis.

(a)" 12 second shot "(12 second shot)

1, Introduction

(1) content

This is a VR animation produced by Washington Post, and it was shortlisted for the 20 19 American Online News Immersive Narrative Excellence Award. The film tells the story of a shooting at a school in South Carolina. One-year-old boy Jacob was shot. From the perspective of Jacob's best friend Ava, the film tells the harm that the shooting incident brought to the young Ava in the first person. After more than a year, Awa still failed to get out of the shadows, so he wrote to the president, hoping that he could pay attention to and protect the safety of children and stay away from guns. The incident caused great social repercussions.

(2) Form

Movies are presented in the form of animation and VR technology. Everything in the picture is presented in the form of pencil hand drawing, and the brush strokes are slightly jumping, which conforms to the child's role image. In the transition, the effect of being blown away by the wind is often used to highlight the injury suffered by children. Except for the sound of gunfire and alarm when shooting, the rest are dubbing.

2. Advantages

(1) strong immersion

Although there is no real scene in the film, it is precisely this artistic technique that can fully mobilize the emotions of the audience. The film uses natural and smooth brushstrokes, music that fits the theme and can drive the audience's emotions, and professional and realistic dubbing to create a more emotional immersion for the audience. This can make the audience more empathetic to the news facts, on the one hand, enhance the understanding of the news, deepen the value of this report, on the other hand, make the social effect of the news more obvious.

(2) avoid secondary injury

In reality, Awa has not been able to get out of the shadows more than a year after the incident, and the damage he has suffered can be seen. The film reproduces the facts by using materials available in reality. The use of animation can avoid the painful memories caused by interviewing the parties and avoid secondary harm to the parties, especially if the parties are children. This will not only let the public know the facts and pay attention to the news, but also protect the privacy and psychology of minors.

(3) There is both a sense of image and authenticity

There is no real picture in the film, but many details come from the real situation. For example, the gunfire at the time of the shooting, the sound of 9 1 1 alarm call, Ava's letter to Jacob and Trump, the inscription on Jacob's coffin, etc. Every detail is true, revealing the truth of the news everywhere.

3. Shortcomings

(1) sensational

Due to the particularity of protecting children and animation processing, the presentation of movies is mixed with many technical methods. For example, most of the elements in the film are blown away by the wind, which actually gives the audience a "sense of dispersion" and is very sad. For example, in the film, Ava's face turned black after being treated and asked by a doctor, and the wind roared in her ears, and Ava's speech also echoed. Little Ava stays alone in the dark, and all kinds of image elements are conveying a sense of sadness to the audience, infecting the audience's emotions. So although the film has a strong sense of immersion, especially in the case of supporting the use of VR devices, its senses are really too strong.

(2) the severity is reduced

The way the film is handled makes it more like a work of art than a news report. Although movies have aroused widespread concern in society to a certain extent, in essence, animation forms and emotional processing weaken the seriousness of news. For news works, it is more about presenting news facts and giving them directly to the audience who can't watch them at the first scene. From this perspective, the film did not do this.

(3) news timeliness discount

Due to the demand of animation form, the production cycle of the film is longer than that of ordinary VR works, and the works themselves are directed by John, a finalist of the 20 18 Pulitzer Prize.

An article by Woodrow Cox, almost all the contents of this film appear in this report. Before the audience saw this work, they had fully understood the news facts through written reports. In essence, the film did not put forward any new content, but only converted the text into audio-visual symbols, and the news value was discounted. But this movie still has social effects.

(2) The terrible sky in Yemen.

1, Introduction

(1) content

By contrast, this is a movie.

A very typical 360 full-motion video produced by VR won the 20 18 American Internet news immersive narrative Excellence Award, with a total length of about 5 points. From the beginning, the film shows the general situation of Yemen's bombing in the form of animation, and puts forward the theme that Yemen needs "humanitarian assistance". Through the self-reports of three Yemeni refugees, tell the audience about Yemen's bombing in the past three years and call on the world to pay attention to and protect Yemen. One 17 years old, one 15 years old and one is only 7 years old. They all experienced bombing and even lost friends.

(2) Form

The main thread running through this film is time and the number of explosions that broke out in Yemen over time. The movie can drag the screen 360 degrees to watch the scene, and there is a navigation map in the upper right corner. The film has English dubbing and English subtitles, and counts the number of bombings that will appear on the screen in a period of time, accompanied by alarm sounds.

2. Advantages

(1) The audience is highly selective.

The use of 360 full-motion video allows the audience to pause at any time and drag the screen to watch the panorama, including the details of the houses collapsed after the bombing, the ground, the places where refugees live, the streets of Yemen, etc., so as to fully understand and master the horrors of the bombing in Yemen, and different audiences can get the information they want.

(2) the sense of substitution across time and space

Viewers can watch 3D full-motion video through VR glasses and other devices, immerse themselves in news stories and have a sense of substitution with the protagonist in the news. Moreover, the film uses a lot of the original sound of Yemen bombing, which is very real. These feelings of realism and substitution also promote the audience's understanding of the information that the news wants to convey to some extent-that is, to understand the current situation in Yemen and give it humanitarian care, thus promoting the value of the news itself.

(3) Animation replaces the real scene

The bombing scenes at the beginning and end of the film are in the form of animation and actual sound, not real bombing scenes. On the one hand, it avoids the excessive impact of the picture and makes the viewer uncomfortable. On the other hand, it also avoids the scene of dead bodies and excessive suspicion after the bombing. At the same time, it also protects the Yemeni people and shows humanitarian concern.

(4) Self-report to prevent subjectivity.

All the interviews in the film are presented by the interviewees, including the appeal of the last three interviewees "I hope the world will see Yemen", which is expounded in the interviewees' own tone, on the one hand, to achieve the effect of immersion, on the other hand, to prevent the subjectivity of journalists and objectively and truly reflect the Yemeni people's inner desire for peace.

3, insufficient

The amount of information is too large and complicated.

Although the content of full-motion video is complete and diverse, it is still a little difficult for readers to know all the information they want to know within a certain time range. When a lot of information comes into view, without the guidance of reporters, you may pay attention to secondary information and miss some important information, and then drag the screen to find the main information, leading to confusion and confusion.

(3) After imprisonment

1, Introduction

(1) content

This is a 360-degree full-motion video, which won the 20 17 American Internet News Immersive Narrative Excellence Award. The film filmed the life of Kenny Moore, a prisoner who was held in solitary confinement in Maine prison for a long time, including the scene inside the solitary prison and his return to his bedroom. The film aims to expose the cruelty of solitary confinement. In prison, prisoners in solitary confinement have no chance to contact with others and no one communicates with them. The film tells how Moore got magazines and other things by fishing. During his imprisonment, his spirit changed greatly, and extreme behaviors such as self-mutilation and writing bloody books on the wall appeared. After he got out of prison, he still felt anxious even when he returned to his normal family. For safety, he tended to lock himself in a small room.

(2) Form

Although the film is a 360-degree full-motion video, the 360-degree scene of the prison cell is actually composed of thousands of pictures in different positions. Moore, the interviewee, was photographed in the studio by using photogrammetry technology, and made a holographic image and placed it in the background, presenting an immersive impression and experience for the audience.

2. Advantages

(1) News value promotes the use of new technologies.

The biggest difficulty of this film is that the protagonist in the news event has been released and there is no possibility of going back to prison for solitary confinement. Moreover, if you let him go through solitary confinement again, it will definitely cause him secondary harm, which is an extremely inhuman practice. However, this news is valuable and immersive presentation is also necessary. Therefore, the director uses photography to synthesize the full-action video, and then shoots the protagonist separately and implants it. This not only makes use of new technologies such as full-motion video and holography, but also captures and presents news facts completely, which embodies news value in the humanitarian scope.

(2) The humanitarian and social impact is enormous.

This film not only reflects the criminal law reform movement in the United States, but also pays attention to the psychological state of prisoners from the perspective of independent individuals. It is full of humanitarian concern while criticizing the current disadvantages, revealing the phenomenon and the essence of the incident very deeply. This film has aroused great social repercussions, with 2.2 million views on Facebook when it won the prize, which played an important role in promoting social reform.

3, insufficient

Content restriction

Due to the limitation of theme and humanitarian spirit, the film failed to show more content, only switched between the cell and the bedroom, with only a short video inserted in the middle, and the scene and news content were very limited. And the whole story is the protagonist's self-report, and the source of the news is slightly single. But on the whole, the report has achieved great success, so some minor flaws are not so important.

The Positive Influence of Immersive Reporting

Realize news appreciation. In addition to the above-mentioned immersive reporting, it enhances the audience's sense of experience. As far as news itself is concerned, its biggest positive influence lies in the immersive way that the audience can better grasp the essence of news. Taking the three reports analyzed above as examples, Twelve Seconds of Gunfire made readers deeply feel the profound harm suffered by children and called on the society and the state to take action to protect children from guns. The terrible sky in Yemen has made the world more aware of the misery of Yemeni people's lives, and after imprisonment, American society has become more aware of the pain and harm of solitary confinement. The great shock, impact and presence produced by immersive reporting can impact the hearts of the audience. If traditional reporting is to let the audience get news information, then immersive reporting is to let the audience better understand news information through experience, which not only satisfies the audience's thirst for untouchable news, but also increases the value and extends the application of news value.