Video annotation for immersive journalism using masking techniques

This paper proposes an interactive annotation technique for 360° videos that allows the use of traditional video editing techniques to add content to immersive videos. Using the case study of immersive journalism the main objective is to diminish the entry barrier for annotating 360° video pieces, by providing a different annotation paradigm and a set of tools for annotation. The spread of virtual reality systems and immersive content has been growing substantially due to technological progress and cost reductions in equipment and software. From all the technologies employed in virtual reality systems, 360° video is one that currently presents unique conditions to be widely used by various industries — especially for communication purposes. From the various areas that can benefit from the usage of virtual reality systems, the communication field is one that requires innovation in the way that narratives are built, especially in virtual reality systems. In the case of immersive journalism, 360° video technology is currently one of the most used mediums by several media outlets. This kind of news content, whose innovative role should be highlighted, is still being studied in the field of journalism, needing a clearly defined set of rules and good practises. In order to improve the introduction of virtual elements in the 360° videos this paper proposes a set of annotation paradigms for 1) Media information display and 2) Narrative and attention focusing. In this paper we present a list of possible techniques that solve the problem of immersive annotation, as well as a description of a prototype that was developed to test these concepts. The prototype implements an annotation technique based on masked videos and the extension of standard subtitle file formats. Finally a fast-track user study was developed to evaluate the acceptance of the visualisation techniques and to refine the set of tools.