Team
Principle Investigators: Wes Pope, Danny Pimentel
Developer: Karen Stritzinger, Old Hara Studios
360 Video: Austyn Steelman
In spring of 2018, our Portland-based Multimedia Journalism master’s students reported on the aftermath of the Eagle Creek Fire in the Columbia Gorge that happened a few months earlier. This was a very successful experiential learning project that took place in the MMJ capstone class and J608 Immersive Media elective. We captured 360 video, standard video, audio interviews, and used aerial photography to create a photogrammetry model of the entire 75-square-mile burn area. On the five-year anniversary of the fire this fall, my 360 Video class again headed out into the woods to capture updates. We worked with the U.S. Forest Service, and retraced our steps to capture new 360 footage in many of the exact same spots as five years earlier. The visual changes we captured are remarkable.
The project has been published in a few different forms (see below), but so far we have not been able to complete our most ambitious build. Our plan is to use the aforementioned 3D model as the basis for an interactive virtual reality (VR) experience. This experience will be designed for use with the Oculus Quest Pro VR headset, allowing users to interact with the 3D model in various ways. Users will be able to click on specific “hot spots” and trigger immersive 360 videos about various aspects of the fire. This form of immersive storytelling will provide audiences with visceral insight into the Eagle Creek fire, including the scale of the disaster and stories of those affected. It will also allow us to explore best practices for engaging broader audiences with immersive storytelling platforms.
