Regardless of the production values at your church, you probably can't call your online content “immersive.” For example, if a certain camera angle gives you a glimpse of something just out of view, it will remain that way until the director or camera op decides to change it. If you're watching the live stream and get curious about how many people are at church today, you can't just look around. Chances are you won't get the answer to that question until attendance is posted. There are a lot of limitations to live video and having a limited perspective is one of the biggies.
Now, that might be changing.
Just as the invention of the motion picture camera changed story telling over a century ago, the 360-degree camera is poised to change it again today.
Maybe you've heard of Oculus Rift, which was recently acquired by FaceBook. There's a lot of buzz surrounding this company's technology, but they're by no means the only player in this space. Sony, HTC, Samsung and Google all have competing technologies to view 360-degree immersive video.
Whether it's a dedicated headset with a purpose-built computer or a piece of cardboard that you slide your phone into (like Google's offering), immersive video and immersive gaming now have a platform to come into the mainstream.
The combination of 360 cameras (like the Ricoh Theta S, the Giroptic 360cam, or high-end devices like a rig filled with GoPros or the $50,000 Nokia Ozo) and these new viewing technologies are creating a wide range of new possibilities for content creators.
Now, imagine that you don't just record and upload the videos, but what it might be like if you could actually live stream 360-degree video. When that happens, watching a streamed church service might feel less like looking through a small window and more like sitting in the room.
“Surely such a day is coming, but not until far into the future,” you may think. Actually, it's available now. As with most things, high quality comes at a high price. Live streaming, with both the Nokia Ozo and the Ricoh Theta S, is now possible. With the Ozo, the higher selling price gives you better quality. The Theta S sells for much less, but at a price.
Live streaming hosts are also starting to support 360-degree video, with players like YouTube already doing it and others coming online soon.
However, just because you can do something, it doesn't mean you should --- at least not yet.
Just as churches are now toying with 4K, as they did previously with HD, some are beginning to ask, “When should we jump into 360 video?” As always, the answer is, “it depends.” We're on the bleeding edge right now. If it's still a little too soon for most churches to go with 4K, it's way too soon to replace an HD stream with 360-degree video. Most people won't get much out of it if you do switch.
Additionally, there are some very real challenges with doing immersive video. Will subtle camera movements cause the viewer to become nauseous because the inner ear doesn't agree with the eyes? How will graphical elements like lower thirds be displayed if you can tilt your head up or down and lose track of them?
Still, this new technology holds a lot of promise. When all these questions are answered, the possibilities are truly exciting. For example, imagine a soldier deployed half way around the world who can look to her side and see her husband, while feeling like she's actually in church with him. Imagine a father with a sick child who can keep his little one home while feeling like he's actually in community during his church's weekend service.
There's another concern, though. Like live streaming standard video, some church leaders worry that the convenience of going to an immersive live stream of a weekend service will cause people not to attend in person.
Sure, watching an immersive video will feel like being there, but there will still be some very important pieces missing from the puzzle. Online viewers won't be able to hug a friend they haven't seen in a few weeks; they won't be able to talk about problems after service; they can't shake hands during the “greeting time.” It's still not the same as actually being there. It's closer, but real human interaction will still be lacking.
Perhaps, in the future, telepresence robots will allow people to more realistically interact with the environment. Maybe people will solve the challenges that even immersive video doesn't solve, but everything that makes church a community will still be better in person. That's why even immersive video won't drive people to stay home and “watch” if they don't have to.
So, the final verdict for now, as to whether your church should start live streaming 360-degree video is a definite “maybe.” You probably don't want to replace a good HD video stream with a fuzzy immersive stream, but adding a Ricoh Theta S or a Giroptic 360cam might be a fun draw for the techies in your local area.
I'd consider it an experiment to add another layer of tech that might help people give church, and therefore Jesus, another chance. Live 360-degree immersive video streaming is not going to be for every church, but it's something to keep an eye out for. Maybe in five or ten years nearly every “televised” event will include a 360-degree live stream. We'll probably laugh at early attempts to use this new medium, just as we chuckle at the first films, which simply involved placing a single camera in the audience of a theatrical play. That seems very short sighted to us now.
Maybe, the opposite will happen too. Maybe 360 video isn't a new medium on par with motion pictures and digital video. Maybe it's like 3D, which was all the rage at the consumer and professional video trade shows just a few years ago. It may be fun to watch, but the attempts to bring it to the masses will be met by a collective yawn.
Whichever of these directions 360 video takes, now you know to keep an eye on society to see if it does take off. If it does, be ready to embrace another way to spread the Gospel. If it doesn't, mark it down as a footnote in history and keep your eyes open to the future because we live in an incredible time when innovation is everywhere and the next “big thing” could sneak up on the Church like technologies of the past did. Let's not let that happen. Our mission is too important for that.
