360 videos are one of the newest forms of readily accessible online media.
By the most liberal of estimates the format has seen maybe a year of widespread usage. In that time, serious filmmakers have adopted immersive storytelling for film festivals like Sundance, adventurers have captured extreme exploits, and amateurs have chronicled their everyday lives.
It is therefore a bit surprising that one of the most powerful and well produced 360 videos to date comes from Wargaming – the studio behind massively multiplayer online military video games World of Tanks, World of Warplanes, and World of Warships.
War Knows No Nation is the name of this seven-and-a-half minute 360 experience. According to the films description:
“This video rekindles the memories of three veteran World War II tankers, blending live action panorama footage with CG scenes for the very first time. The viewer is taken on a journey through historical events across the USSR, USA, and UK during World War II.”
Let me be clear about something before we go further: Wargaming has not paid me or this website a single cent. There is no advertorial bias bubbling up here. What you are about to read is simply the overpouring of delight I experienced upon discovering that what I thought would be a hamfisted marketing piece, is instead one of the most exciting, profound, and well made 360 videos around.
Going into this you might expect, like I did, to discover nothing more than a few simple, interactive segments featuring a couple of tanks trundling along and a handful of actors in period costumes. What you’ll find instead is some very accurate recreations of historical set pieces (Roosevelt’s declaration of war drowning out the jazz in a speakeasy being among the most poignant).
War Knows No Nation is not just a representation of American history, however. The United States’ Russian and British allies also receive equal time in the spotlight as well. This multicultural focus further elevates this video out of the sea of many and into the rarified air of a truly significant product.
Wargaming is no stranger to virtual reality productions. Last year, the company announced a series of 360 videos designed Virtually Inside The Tanks that is meant to give viewers a peek under the steel.
These videos are fine in their own right. But if Wargaming continues to produce VR films on the caliber of War Knows No Nation, than the studio may need to rethink that whole video game thing and focus on pursuing these types of experiences full time.
