Capturing the Emotional Depth of War: The 'Shelter' VR Documentary

SHELTER is a 360 video documentary telling the story of civilians in Ukraine seeking protection in bomb shelters. The film poetically transports you the many different ways Ukrainians are sheltering from small cramped basements to parking garages to hospitals. It also contrasts these underground spaces to the aftermath of war from bombed out buildings to funerals for Ukrainian soldiers. The experience always documents how the dream lives of Ukrainians are impacted by the war as they also overlay these dream sequences over billboarded videos of drone strikes. Overall, it's a meditative and powerful journey of cinéma vérité, observational durational takes that are juxtaposed together to tell a much larger story of the human impact of war. . Check out my deep dive with director Sjors Swierstra and producer Justin Karten for more insights in how they put this piece together. Apple's push for 180-degree immersive video has brought up some broader discussions about the merits and downsides to 360-degree films. From a creator's point of view, 180-degree filmmaking is a lot easier to do logistically as it is closer to existing production pipelines, which is brilliantly demonstrated in CURRENTS. The main downside is that it is difficult to control where people are looking, but the main benefit is that you're able to preserve the full context of a place. SHELTER was one of two films that really leaned into being able to be fully transported to a place without having to worry about selecting a constrained frame or point of focus.  This is a listener-supported podcast through the Voices of VR Patreon. Music: Fatality