Using Forced Perspective

 

Introduction – What is Forced Perspective?

Liquid Cinema’s Forced Perspective feature solves one of the biggest problems in VR storytelling: directing attention. Forced Perspective perfectly reframes every cut in a 360° video for the viewer at the time of playback, regardless of what the viewer was looking at right before the cut.

Your audience will never miss an important part of a scene or an action ever again because they were facing the wrong way. Forced Perspectives are seamless so that the viewer doesn’t even notice they are happening. They simply see what they were meant to see without losing any freedom to look around.

This innovation that is unique to Liquid Cinema brings the frame back into the medium, giving immersive filmmakers the essential control that they have been missing.

 

Watch the video below for an in-depth explanation of how Forced Perspective works.

 

 

 

 

Authoring Forced Perspectives

 

Forced Perspectives are most effective at the beginning of a new shot. A new shot is a like a new beginning and you can choose the framing of your shot in Liquid Cinema so that the viewer will always see your chosen framing no matter what direction they were looking in the previous shot.

 

1. Move your playhead to the first frame of your new shot. In the example below the new shot starts at frame 6269.

 

 

2. Then using your mouse move the sphere to your desired framing. Notice how the sphere position has changed to Hrot = 15.30 and Vrot = 7.65

 

 

3. Press I or click the In Point icon in the transport controls to set the In Point of your Forced Perspective.

 

 

4. The Out Point will automatically be set to the next forced perspective event or in this case the end of the timeline as there are no other forced perspectives in the timeline yet.

 

 

5. Click the + icon next to the camera icon in the camera timeline to create a Camera Event.

 

 

6. This will open a Camera Event Panel for this new event.

 

 

7. The sphere coordinates are already set to the chosen framing which in this case is Hrot = 15.30 and Vrot = 7.65. In addition, the checkmarks that enable Vertical and Horizontal forced perspective are already checked.

 

 

The forced perspective is now set for this shot that starts at frame 6269.

 

FAQ – Forced Perspective

  • How does Forced Perspective work in VR?

    Forced Perspective works very well in VR. However, in VR  Liquid Cinema suppresses the vertical forced perspective, as this would shift the horizon and be disconcerting for the viewer.

    This behaviour is reflected in the Camera Panel where the vertical forced perspective check box is grayed for the VR platforms.

     

  • Can I use Forced Perspective with a Dissolve?

    In general Forced Perspective does not work with dissolves. The incoming shot is rotated by the player to the preconfigured perspective that was authored by the filmmaker, regardless of the orientation of the outgoing shot. If the two shots are connected through a dissolve in the footage their orientations relative to each other are essentially locked.

  • Do I have to use Forced Perspective?

    Using Forced Perspective is entirely optional and up to the filmmaker. Forced Perspective is applied to a specific frame using the Camera Event Editor. If no Forced Perspective is authored on a cut no forced perspective is applied.

    To disable a Forced Perspective on a camera event simply uncheck the HORIZONTAL and VERTICAL Forced Perspective checkboxes. The Forced Perspective will not be executed.

     

  • Doesn’t Forced Perspective go against the whole idea of leaving a viewer free to look where they want to?

    The viewer is always free to look around where they want to, even when Forced Perspective is applied. Nobody feels “forced” or coerced during the viewing experience. We have been using Forced Perspective for years and it is so seamless that no one ever noticed that it was happening. What they did notice is that they never missed any “important” moments anymore.

  • How is Forced Perspective different from reorienting the sphere in an editor like Premiere?

    The main difference is that the Forced Perspective is executed in the player at the time of viewing. This means the perspective adjusts dynamically to the viewer in real time. While you can adjust the position of the sphere in a programme like Premiere you are “stuck” with sphere’s rotation. Its position is “locked” in the footage in relation to the previous shot when playing back on a 360 video player.

  • Does Forced Perspective work in YouTube and Vimeo?

    Forced Perspective is a unique feature of Liquid Cinema and needs special players. Subscribe to a service like www.360FLIX.com which is a cloud-based Liquid Cinema compatible CMS and publish your Liquid Cinema projects across many platforms including an embeddable web player.

  • Can I use Forced Perspective only on a Cut?

    You can use Forced Perspective on any frame in a film, but it works best on a cut. You can use a Forced Perspective in the middle of a shot as well but you have to add Exclusion Zones to avoid jarring jump cuts. This type of Forced Perspective is called Conditional Forced Perspective. Click here to learn about Conditional Forced Perspective and Exclusion Zones.

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