Immersive Video Production | Final Project
16/06/2025 - 27/07/2025 | Week 9 - Week 14
Huang JiaQi| 0371553
Immersive Video Production | Bachelor of Design in Creative Media
Final Project
Table of Content
1. Module Information
2. Lecture
3. Project
4. Feedback
5. Reflection
Module Information
Lecture
Consultation
Project
Final Project
Concept Development
The idea for Echoes in the Corridor emerged from a desire to explore the psychological horror genre through immersive media. The main goal was to evoke fear and curiosity by transitioning from a 360° third-person video to a Unity-based first-person perspective. This format allowed us to blend cinematic storytelling with interactive presence, giving the audience both passive observation and active engagement.
Emotion Mapping
To ensure each scene communicated the intended emotional beats, I created an emotion map:
Scene Dominant Emotions
1: Hallway Curiosity, Unease
2: Hallway to Classroom Fear, Anticipation
3: Classroom Shock, Mystery, Lingering Dread
Theme and Genre
The theme centers on Curiosity vs. Fear of the Unknown. It reflects how people are often drawn toward what they shouldn’t uncover — even if warned. This emotional conflict is core to the horror experience.
The genre is Psychological Horror with Supernatural Elements. Instead of relying on gore, I focused on building a suspenseful atmosphere with sound, lighting, and mysterious characters.
Scene Board
I drew a scene board and created a basic floor plan showing where the 360° camera would be placed and where the actors would move. Since 360° cameras record everything around them, we had to:
- Hide the crew and lighting equipment
- Make sure the most important action happened within the viewer’s natural field of vision
First Attempt
Figure 1.1 Scene #1 - 1
Figure 1.2 Scene #2 - 1
Figure 1.3 Scene #3 - 1
Final Scene Board
Figure 2.1 Scene #1 - 2
Figure 2.2 Scene #2 - 2
Figure 2.3 Scene #3 - 2
Final Project Proposal (PDF)
Video shooting experience
In this shooting, I played a ghost character who appeared in a dim school corridor and classroom, creating a strange and tense atmosphere. The film uses 360° panoramic camera technology, which poses a new challenge to the performance. Unlike traditional shooting, 360° cameras will capture everything - including all environments and characters, even our inadvertent movements. Therefore, I must fully devote myself to the role and show the mystery and horror of the ghost from every angle and every detail.
My character has almost no lines, mainly through body language, movement rhythm and timing to convey emotions. As a ghost, every subtle action of me - from the quiet appearance at the end of the corridor to the sudden appearance in the classroom - needs to be carefully designed to ensure that a strong sense of suspense and horror can be conveyed through the camera.
Figure 3.1 Process Sceenshot #1
Figure 3.2 Process Sceenshot #2
Shooting challenge
We chose the school corridor and classroom as the shooting location, which itself has a gloomy atmosphere, which is fully in line with the story background of the film. Due to the use of 360° cameras, shooting is much more challenging than traditional shooting:
Stitching problem: The 360° camera will stitch multiple lenses into a complete picture, and the picture may be distorted at the stitching, so every actor and prop must avoid standing in these stitching areas. I must pay close attention to my position, especially when entering the camera, to avoid affecting the coherence of the picture.
The problem of concealment: Unlike traditional shooting, we can't rely on the staff or props behind the scenes to hide, which means that all props and personnel must be completely invisible. This puts extra pressure on my performance. Every action and detail must be natural and real.
Sound guidance: Because we can't rely on too much later sound effects or soundtracks, we must use ambient sounds to guide the audience's attention. For example, the presence of ghosts is hinted at by the flashing of lights, the creaking of the floor or the sound of footsteps in the distance. Every time I appear, I must cooperate with these voices to create a tense atmosphere.
Camera distance: In order to maintain a natural sense of liveness, 360° cameras are usually placed 1.5 to 2 meters away from the character. This can not only ensure that the audience feels enough immersion, but also does not make the character's expressions and movements look too awkward.
Slow motion and rhythm control: In order to give the audience enough time to feel the environment, my movements should be as natural and slow as possible. Whenever I appear from the corner of the corridor or classroom, my movements should be carefully designed to ensure that the audience can observe me at any time without missing any details.
Guan Yu's performance
Guan Yu's performance is one of the cores of the film. He needs to convey the fear, doubt and tension of the existence of ghosts to the audience. Especially at the moment when he met me in the corridor, his fear and shock were vividly expressed, which made people sympathize. His body language and emotional changes accurately control the psychological changes of the characters, leading the audience into a tense atmosphere.
This shooting made me deeply feel the immersive experience brought by 360° video. As a ghost, my performance mainly relies on body language and timing, while Guan Yu brings the audience into the center of the story through emotional ups and downs and changes in eyes, and finally builds the tense atmosphere of the film.
Scene 1 & Scene 2 Video Material Restoration Process Log
During the shooting of Scene 1 and Scene 2, due to the complexity of the on-site environment and the presence of unwanted individuals in certain shots, the original footage had some imperfections and distractions. To enhance the overall video quality, we decided to proceed with post-production restoration and optimization.
Task Assignment
This task was handled by Huang Jiaqi and Guan Yu, focusing on processing the video materials. The primary objectives were to remove unnecessary people from the frames, improve the video clarity, and ensure that the overall visual effect appeared more professional and cohesive.
scene1:youtube link: https://youtu.be/rvTymqD8ZXw
scene2:youtube link: https://youtu.be/4j8IGfKQK7o
Second Attempt
For this time we tried the ghost moving around when the main character came in.
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/xjZzhu59lcM
Final Video Scene #2
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/nG1NVaL9ABs
Tools and Techniques Used
We employed several software tools for processing:
Jianying Pro : Used the "Smart Removal" feature to quickly eliminate unwanted objects from the footage while enhancing the video quality for sharper clarity.
Adobe After Effects: Applied more detailed masking techniques and content-aware fill, particularly for areas requiring further refinement after the Jianying Pro processing.
Photoshop (for single-frame fixes): Adjusted key frames individually to enhance the detail recovery and ensure consistency in the visual quality.
Motion Tracking Technology: Ensured that masks and transitions between masked areas were natural, with no noticeable cut marks or disruptions.
Challenges Faced
While Jianying Pro is powerful, complex scenes still required manual adjustments to avoid leaving ghosted images after the "smart removal" process.
Multiple video segments had different lighting and angles, requiring unified adjustments for color grading and brightness.
Masking needed to be refined frame by frame, which was a time-consuming process requiring patience and precision.
Final Results
After continuous testing and adjustments, the final restored video footage is cleaner and clearer, meeting the project's quality standards. Distracting elements in the footage have been successfully removed while preserving the natural feel of the environment, significantly enhancing the work's integrity and professionalism.
Summary and Reflection
Although this video restoration task was technically challenging, we learned how to flexibly use multiple software tools in tandem and gained a deeper understanding of video post-production. Especially when dealing with imperfect source material, learning how to restore it to an ideal state through creativity and technical expertise was a highly valuable practical experience.
Video
First Attempt
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/jFpGVEAaUNw
Video
First Attempt
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/jFpGVEAaUNw
Second Attempt
YouTube Link: https://youtu.be/iE4l3P4YbTM
Feedback
Some feedback suggests that if we have more time or extend the project to Unity (as originally planned), we can add more interactive or branch plots to enhance the audience's sense of participation. In this way, the audience can choose where to go or explore more scenes.
Some important actions happen too quickly. In a 360° environment, the audience is easy to miss the critical moment. In the future, we can slow down the pace of the character's action, or enhance these moments with more obvious sounds or light prompts.
There are some minor technical problems, such as the consistency of the light and the position of the camera - the background light in one scene slightly overexposed part of the picture. This makes us understand that in immersive video, the lighting must be controlled both naturally and finely to maintain the clarity of the atmosphere and the picture.
Week 14
- Scene 1: Add a few seconds at the front for the title. After the title fades out, fade into the footage. If your title overlaps with M.C. walking, viewers will be confused.
- Scene 2: The ghost should fade in, with opacity changing from 0 to 80 around 1 second. The ghost should be transparent, as in Scene 3, and fade out later rather than suddenly disappearing. Complement this with sound effects while the ghost appears and disappears. Scene 2 should end with a fade to black.
- Scene 3: Start from a black screen with heavy breathing sounds from M.C., then fade into the footage to imply a P.O.V. perspective. I showed you how to scale up slowly and slightly to imitate a "walking" effect. Same as scene 2, use sound effects while the ghost appears and disappears. The ghost should raise his hand first, implying an intention to shake hands. Only M.C.'s hand should enter the frame from the bottom, not suddenly showing the palm and reach out. Before M.C.'s hand reaches the ghost, the ghost disappears.
Reflection
Participating in the filming of The Voice of the Cloister as a ghost character was a challenging and meaningful experience for me. This is the first time I have performed in a 360° video, which has made me deeply understand the difference between immersive storytelling and traditional filmmaking - not only on the technical level, but also how it affects the interaction between the performance, the director and the audience.
Unlike traditional films that only shoot shots from a specific angle, 360° shooting will capture everything around the lens, which means that I can't be careless. Every moment, I must always pay attention to my position, make sure that I stay at the effective viewing distance of the camera (about 1.5 to 2 meters), and avoid blocking important visual elements or looking unnatural. More importantly, in 360° shooting, I can't rely on remakes or post-editing to correct the details of the performance - the whole scene must be natural and smooth in real time. Every action, every eye contact, and every pause must look real and natural from all directions.
As a ghost character, this experience makes me pay more attention to emotional coherence. I can't rely on close-ups to show fear or suspense like traditional performances - but I have to express these emotions through body language, posture and rhythm. For example, when I appear quietly in the corridor, I need to show fear without moving, while guiding the audience's attention forward. It becomes especially important to balance the relationship between "living in the scene" and ensuring that the audience pays attention to the key moments of the plot.
This project also made me more aware of the importance of sound design in immersive video. Since the audience is free to look around, we can't control their perspective - but we can guide their attention through sound. Details such as flashing lights, squeaking floors, or footsteps will be carefully arranged to create a sense of tension and guide the audience to turn their heads to explore the environment. This makes me deeply realize that sound can be a powerful narrative tool, especially in a 360° environment, when traditional film shooting techniques such as editing, zooming or lens translation are no longer applicable.
Guan Yu, the protagonist who cooperated with me, plays the role of a student, which is also the core of the story. His performance is crucial to the whole plot. During the shooting process, our every action requires a high degree of cooperation, especially my "appearance" and "disappearance" as a ghost character. It is necessary to ensure that my every appearance can enhance the sense of tension without being affected by the blind spots or stitches of the camera. It is crucial to grasp the timing - even a few seconds of deviation may break the audience's sense of immersion.
We chose to shoot in the corridors and classrooms of the school, which in itself brought some challenges. We need to shoot in a quiet environment, precisely control the lighting conditions, and avoid any possible interference. However, this also makes the whole story more real and credible. Being in a real school corridor, especially when shooting at night, can make me better resonate with the emotions of the characters. This is not only a performance, but also makes me fully integrate into the role, feel the loneliness and uneasiness, and then convey it to the audience.
In general, this shooting made me realize that immersive video is not only about the use of high-end cameras or software, but also about how to create an experience that allows the audience not only to "watch" the story, but also to be "immersive". I better understand how narrative, performance and technical planning are closely combined in this format. It not only challenged my creativity, but also taught me a lot technically, especially how to accurately convey emotions and information in a 360° environment.
I am proud of the achievements of our team and look forward to trying more immersive projects in the future - whether it is horror, fantasy, or interactive narrative. This experience made me realize that as media creators, we are no longer just telling stories - we are building a world for the audience where they can walk in and interact with.
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