After I was gifted with a GoPro Fusion by my friends at GoPro Japan, I soon discovered how unique and fun it is to shoot using a 360 camera for Parkour. I’d seen athletes with them before to make instagram content such as selfie stick parkour or extremely distorted wide angle videos. I felt like the camera could be better applied as a combination of the POV videos that I initially pioneered, and the classic viewpoint of parkour videos. Through a 360 camera, I can do extreme camera movements and reframe the video later. With this I wanted to make a video that would go back to one of Ampisound’s very first styles of parkour video, getting as close as possible.
The legends at Wiral then hooked me up with a WiralLite wire cam system that works with the GoPro Fusion, so I knew it was perfect for a unique parkour video. The shots you can get with the wire cam are so fun because of the angles and speed you can get, flying over the action. Its so much easier, safer and more repeatable than a drone too.
I didn’t really focus on getting much BTS for this video as it was mostly a passion project shot with friends as a test for the kit and concept. You can see below how we used a cable and pulley to get this shot of Shane ascending a building. In the future I want to apply this style of video to more unique locations and especially utilise the WiralLite more. The post production for this video is by far the most tedious part of the process, as you have to stitch all the 360 footage together (though with the new GoPro MAX that is automated) and then every single moment of the video has to have its camera angle keyframed in, including the transitions etc. Its just loads and loads of keyframing but I think the result is worth it!
