Check out Casey Neistat’s Samsung Gear 360 Oscars vlog

The Samsung Gear 360 was one of our favorite devices we saw at MWC 2016. It’s a consumer-grade 360-degree camera that seeks to put immersive video shooting into the hands of the masses. We’re already starting to see this amazing little toy in the wild, but one of our favorite implementations so far is Casey Neistat’s Oscars vlog. Although you can watch it on your screen and pan around, it’s far more immersive to don a Google Cardboard or Samsung Gear VR headset and enjoy the experience of watching Leo win his Oscar from the balcony.

The trouble with 360-degree video right now is that it’s a medium that’s still in its infancy. People are still figuring out what kinds of shots and setups create an effective and immersive experience, and the entire ‘language’ of shooting in 360 degrees is still being developed. There’s no real sense of framing, concepts like “stage left” or “off camera” become somewhat meaningless, and folks are still figuring out ways to create enjoyable experiences while avoiding breaking immersion.

To some, the Samsung Gear 360 looks like an apt solution to this set of problems. Whenever you have a new medium, the best way to boost its development is to have as many people creating things on it as possible. Previously, 360-degree video recording was really only available to professionals, for the most part. By packing a bunch of mid-tier tech into an affordable little eyeball, Samsung is doing their part to help 360 go mainstream.

What are your thoughts regarding the Gear 360 and Neistat’s Oscars vlog? Think this 360 video thing is really going to take off, or are we always going to prefer more rectangular forms of footage? Let us know your opinions in the comments below!