Google Street View allows us to move around the screen and interact with static images, photographs. The technology developed by Yellowbird, however, lets us do so with video images. And so yes, really, we can see the world like never before through the screen.

What the viewer experiences is something akin to "being there", given that he can move forward in real-time, walk, vary the camera angle – just like turning your head to see what’s happening behind you, look at the sky, etc.

For this purpose, Yellowbird have designed a camera with six lenses and added surround sound to the microphone thus permitting 96 khz audio recording. And not only that, it can also record on a tripod or using the steadycam system, i.e. placed on the back of whoever is recording and moving around with him.

This technological advance is a first step in exploring video viewing and imagining a completely innovative way of making and seeing films. The same way as new technologies led to another way of conceiving literature, related to hypertext, the idea of interactive 3D video will also mean changes in the world of cinema. To start off, neither the author nor the publisher control the point of view anymore, while the character of the film isn’t exclusively lineal either. The spectator is no longer someone who receives what has already been filmed, rather he can interact with what he sees. The notion of responsibility is altered and redefined, obliging the filmmaker to design a film space that allows for different interpretations.

For now, surprise yourselves with the sample you can find on the Yellowbird website. To surf the movie, you have to place the cursor on top. It’s a party, you’ll see.

http://tinyurl.com/ceyp9e