We all know that virtual reality will revolutionize entertainment and gaming, but the Associated Press launched a video series today that shows that the technology is also a powerful storytelling tool in journalism, too.
Via Fast Company, AP partnered with RYOT, a Los Angeles-based production company, to create the documentary-style videos, which it will release over the next five months.
The first video (above) is called “Seeking Home: Life Inside the Calais Migrant Camp,” showing a 360-degree view of what it is like to be in the refugee camp in northern France, where many migrants are camped out to see if they can make it across the English channel to the UK.
As FC notes, RYOT helped make a VR video about the aftermath of the earthquake in Nepal, and another about the war zone in Syria. They add that the New York Times is also experimenting with VR in storytelling, partnering with Google on an upcoming film called “The Displaced,” about children displaced by war. The Times will send more than a million Google cardboard viewers to subscribers, and is set to launch the documentary this weekend.
You can download the app to watch this AP film, and several other documentaries, at RYOT’s site here.
