Technology-powered visual storytelling is the new frontier in journalism. But that doesn't just refer to video-streaming apps such as Snapchat and Periscope; there are also ways you can report in virtual reality.
For example, The New York Times recently collaborated with virtual reality production company Vrse to plunge readers into a stunning VR version of New York City.
[seealso slug="trayvon-martin-vr"]
The film, "Walking New York," directed by Chris Milk, JR and Zach Richter, takes viewers into the creation of, ironically, a paper product: the latest New York Times Magazine cover. The cover features a work by artist JR plastered in the center of the Flat Iron District (or as local tech types know it, Silicon Alley), and was later photographed from an aerial position.
So happy to announce that my first Virtual Reality short is online and for free ! It s the first New York Times VR film !! Get it through the app on vrse.com . I co directed it with @chrismilk and @zrichter !!! Try to watch it with the cartboard glasses if you can :) #VRSE @NYTIMES #WalkingNewYork A video posted by @jr on Apr 27, 2015 at 2:17pm PDT
The VR film swings viewers into vertigo-inducing aerial views of the cover artwork, from the top of a Manhattan building to the edge of a helicopter door, flying high above the city.
We were able to watch the VR film using Google's Cardboard, but the experience is much better on the Samsung Gear VR headset. Once loaded, the VR film served an amazingly immersive view.
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/VR55.jpg" caption="A scene from "Walking New York" via the Vrse app for Android. " credit="Vrse, New York Times " alt="Walking New York VR "]
"I'm not so much interested in one and zeros," the co-founder of Vrse, Chris Milk, told Mashable. "I'm interested in how the ones and zeros bounce around inside the human heart."
Milk says he's hoping to make this cutting-edge technology serve the art of storytelling -- rather than the other way around.
"I am interested in technology from the standpoint of how can I use it to tell stories, to make art and to make VR experiences where the purpose is to make them to resonate with people on a deep level -- not to show off the technology," he says. "I'm interested in humanity, but I see tech as something that can help to access that humanity in a way we've never been able to before."
Vrse is already working with the paper's editors on a series of stories from the Times that will use VR in similarly innovative ways.
The free app, which can be viewed on your smartphone if you don't have a VR device, is available on the Apple App Store or Google Play for free.