{"id":75640,"date":"2025-08-25T00:00:56","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T22:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/visualjournalism.de\/?post_type=magazin&p=75640"},"modified":"2026-09-27T21:53:49","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T19:53:49","slug":"360-degree-video-in-journalism","status":"publish","type":"magazin","link":"https:\/\/visualjournalism.de\/en\/magazine\/advice\/360-degree-video-in-journalism\/","title":{"rendered":"360-degree video in journalism: how to produce immersive reportage"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n\n
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360-degree video in journalism: how to produce immersive reportage.<\/strong> 360-degree video puts the audience right in the middle of the action. We show you how to produce immersive reportage \u2013 from the technology to the edit \u2013 and tell stories from every angle.<\/p>\n

\r\n Emil Eichinger<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/div>\r\n <\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\n \"\"\n \n In our workrooms in the basement of the Design Center, students can produce 360\u00b0 films. Photo: Rafael Heygster<\/span>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n

Virtual reality opens up new ways of visual storytelling.<\/strong> Instead of watching, the audience immerses itself in a world of its own. 360-degree video production in particular offers journalism new opportunities. This article shows what VR expert Felix Gaedtke pays attention to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is a 360-degree video?<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

Virtual reality (VR) replaces real space with computer-generated environments or 360-degree videos. An omnidirectional camera records a spherical panorama that covers horizontal and vertical perspectives. Viewers have \u2018three degrees of freedom\u2019 (3DoF): they can look around in every direction. In volumetric productions they even have \u2018six degrees of freedom\u2019 (6DoF) \u2013 they can move freely through the virtual environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Immersive storytelling as a calling<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n
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Felix Gaedtke is an Emmy\u00ae-nominated<\/strong> and Peabody Award-winning director and producer. Known for his work in immersive storytelling, he is regarded as a pioneer of 360\u00b0 video production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is co-founder of the studio NowHere Media<\/a>, which gives a hearing to voices under-represented in mainstream discourse. The team develops immersive experiences, mainly in non-fiction \u2013 including virtual and augmented reality, 360\u00b0 films, audio workshops and installations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since the 2024\/25 winter semester, Felix Gaedtke has taught the seminar \u2018Immersive Journalism\u2019 at Hochschule Hannover as a visiting lecturer<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Borrow, don\u2019t buy: omnidirectional cameras and spatial audio<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

360-degree videos are usually recorded with omnidirectional cameras. They have several lenses and capture different angles at the same time, which are then combined into a complete panorama in a process called \u2018stitching\u2019. Felix Gaedtke recommends borrowing the equipment rather than buying it \u2013 it goes out of date quickly. Sound should also be recorded in 360 degrees so that the experience feels immersive. This spatial sound is called spatial audio. Two common formats are Ambisonics, which captures sound from all directions and responds dynamically to head movements, and binaural audio, which uses two microphones to create a realistic sense of space through headphones.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n \"\"\n \n Photos: Carsten Seidler, Thomas M\u00fcller-Vahl<\/span>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/figure>\n\n\n\n\n
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Strengths and weaknesses of VR<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

Felix Gaedtke stresses that VR is a format in its own right and fundamentally different from conventional film. It creates a fully immersive experience that holds users\u2019 attention without distraction. Producers can deliberately transport the audience into situations or places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the same time, VR brings challenges. People often experience it in isolation, because they consume the content alone. Uncomfortable headsets and immature technology make access even harder. And VR remains out of reach for many, because 360-degree films work almost exclusively with VR headsets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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With a 360-degree camera on a container ship<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n
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Niklas Gr\u00fcter<\/strong> is 28 and completed his bachelor\u2019s degree in Visual Journalism and Documentary Photography at Hochschule Hannover in 2022 with the multimedia project \u2018Growling Sea\u2019. After graduating, he worked at 2470.media<\/a> in Berlin and is now a video producer at the national office of the environmental organisation BUND (Friends of the Earth Germany).<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n

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In his bachelor\u2019s project \u2018Growling Sea\u2019<\/strong>, Niklas Gr\u00fcter looks at the working conditions of seafarers. Around 90 per cent of the world\u2019s goods are transported by ship \u2013 and many crew members suffer from depression, isolation and long separations from their families. Virtual reality lets viewers experience the dimensions of a container ship and the crew\u2019s perspective vividly. The audience gets up close to their living and working conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Niklas Gr\u00fcter sees this as a key advantage of 360\u00b0 video production: \u2018In a fast-moving world, you can focus entirely on one thing.\u2019 The audience becomes emotionally immersed and gains a direct connection to the working environment. Although VR was still uncharted territory during his studies, the Hannover degree programme, with its focus on storytelling and its equipment loan service, gave him a solid basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Handling the \u2018Insta360 Pro 2\u2019 camera with its 5.1 microphone system proved difficult, though. Cramped spaces and swinging ropes caused unexpected problems. Even so, Niklas created an immersive video that gained extra emotional depth from letters by real seafarers read aloud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Growling Sea\u2019 won him first prize in the VR category at the Sehs\u00fcchte festival in Babelsberg, and he presented the project in Bremen, Berlin and at the Human Rights Film Festival. Today, the shipping company uses the 360\u00b0 video to get young people interested in working at sea.<\/p>\n\n\n

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From virtual tours to war documentaries: 360\u00b0 video in action<\/h2>\n\n \n <\/div>\n\n \n\n\n\n\n

360-degree videos are used in many fields: in tourism for virtual tours, at events such as concerts and trade fairs, in education with interactive learning environments, and in marketing for product presentations and immersive campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In journalism, 360-degree video production makes the audience an active part of events. It strengthens the feeling of being \u2018on the spot\u2019 and creates a deeper emotional bond. People who interact stay attentive for longer and engage more intensively with the content. Felix Gaedtke emphasises that VR offers personal access to places and people. Even abstract or complex subjects \u2013 from the universe to processes in the body \u2013 can be shown vividly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times was one of the first to use 360\u00b0 video regularly. From 2016, its format \u2018The Daily 360<\/a>\u2019 showed historical events, cultural highlights and current news every day. In 2023, Felix Gaedtke\u2019s NowHere Media released the documentary \u2018YOU DESTROY. WE CREATE. The war on Ukraine\u2019s culture<\/a>\u2019. The 25-minute film takes viewers into war-ravaged Ukraine, \u2018where artists and cultural workers are busy protecting, rebuilding and creating art\u2019. Gaedtke and his team combined 360-degree footage with 180-degree 3D material to take the audience on an immersive journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\r\n

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