Role: Project manager, tech lead, videographer, sound recorder Project: Digital medias creation, 360° VR video and photo Period: 11.2016 - 01.2017
Context
With 11 thermal water sources and a surface of 7000m2, the Vichy Célestins Spa, founded in 1853, is the biggest spa area in Europe. Contacted by the Operations Director to create innovative digital projects allowing to smoothly blend Vichy’s traditional thermal & wellness image into modern 360° & digital technologies, my role was to:
- implement a Google Streetview virtual tour linked with company’s Google My Business profile to leverage their global & local SEO
- deliver a POI (Point Of Interest) shooting to garnish their GMB listing
- realise a VR compatible, 360° video aiming to present their services while staying in a comfortable, relaxed atmosphere
- provide VR headset and train users to setup smartphones and headset and to display Youtube VR mode
Emphasis is given on the personalisation of the project, meaning that it’s not just about shooting spa & hotel facilities, but bringing a fancy staging with figuring staff in each scene to make the end user better feel like projecting himself into the place.
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| Aerial view with corporate background banner for the 360° video |
Project details
The video was first confidentially released in order to present it exclusively to luxury hotels & journalists on a hospitality industry congress that would occur a few weeks after, before being publicly visible on Youtube. The project deadline was therefore very tight: between the shooting days, heavy post editing and version releases, and the final approved version, the video had to be delivered in less than a month! The Google Streetview part was less urgent but still has been delivered in the following weeks nonetheless.
Before that, effective communication and collaboration with the customer led us to write a precise storyboard and anticipate on-site coordination: book areas at certain times with low customer presence, book company’s employees as figuring staff & coordinate with their job hours, edit a detailed agenda for each figuring, book spa & massage rooms for live care sessions staging & shooting, etc. We also had to decide which areas to focus on and eliminate a few others. For almost each photo & video shooting session, a staging is made with figuring staff:
- in the hotel: public open areas, bar, breakfast room and restaurant, Presidential Suite and Executive Suite, a Standard room, rooftop swimming pool,
- in the spa: reception hall, “Vichy shower” hydromassage, couple’s massage session, body care treatment, Spa boutique, cryotherapy, Vichy Laboratoires brand area, aquasport session, hairdresser salon, etc.
I had to fit 22 video scenes shootings and thousands square meters of panoramic photography shooting areas shootings into the only 2 days we had on site, together with the photograph and the figuring staff, while staying inobtrusive towards present customers. Background soundtrack and corporate identity material were provided by the customer.
Roles & credits
- Project managers: Philippe Magne (Operations Director, Compagnie de Vichy) & myself
- Marketing material & figuring actors coordination: Florence Rochelois (Communication & Marketing, Compagnie de Vichy)
- Storyboard co-writers: Philippe Magne & myself
- Tech lead, on-stage & shooting coordination: me
- Photographer: Helene Maria (website)
- Videographer: me
- Sound recorder: me
- Video 360 processing: me
- Video post editing and production: Luca Formicola (website)
- Graphic design: 360° banners made for video intro & closing: me
- Sound processing & integration: Luca Formicola
- Streetview stitching & publication: me
- VR headset & video training for users: me
Special kudos to Helene Maria, the photographer, and Luca Formicola for the huge quality work he made with the sound & video rushes!
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| POI shooting in the Spa hall by Helene Maria Photographe |
Facts & figures:
360° video project (watch on Youtube):
- 2 days straight of shooting, 22 scenes grabbed in only 30 footage cuts
- 27 raw audio scenes grabbed independently
- around 15 figuring staff, in which you’ll find company’s employees, from reception desk to hotel director
- the “#mannequinchallenge” hashtag was booming at that time, therefore the customer suggested to imagine a unique opportunity of doing one in 360° -> direct link to scene
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| On stage in a massage room |
Google Streetview & POI shooting:
- 1284 photos captured in 2 days, stitched into 107 full panoramic spheres: my biggest Streetview project ever!
- published across 7 different levels in Streetview: again my biggest Streetview project, and among the best global Streetview tours
- almost every room photo session is staged with figuring staff, clearly enhancing the user experience: this is very rarely made by other Streetview photographers, and never up to that point, making this tour even more unique!
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| We really had to give the best of ourselves in every conditions :-) |
Words from the customer:
Philippe Magne, Director of Operations, Vichy Spa International:
I used RMCD’s talent to produce a 360 video of our Hotel in Vichy! His work was efficient, wisely planned and he was a dedicated partner. I would not hesitate to trust his working process in future projects.