Bringing golf fans closer to the action through a series of 360 videos.

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This autumn, TaylorMade launched its new PSi better-player irons and commissioned Visualise to produce a series of memorable 360-degree videos featuring golf legends, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia. These cutting-edge interactive videos, hosted on our custom HTML5 web-player, have appeared on the PSi product landing page over the past couple of months. They were also made available for an immersive virtual reality Google Cardboard experience.

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The Visualise team were in Ohio this summer to capture the 360 videos for TaylorMade over a two-day shoot. We shot six films in total. The first episode, ‘Look, Shape and Feel,’ sees Rose and Garcia on the driving range putting the PSi irons through their paces for the first time. Episodes two and three, ‘Trajectory and Spin’ and ‘Redefining the Players Iron’, sees the two pro golfers out on the course playing three holes to explore the clubs’ performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8GGGOt7JXo

Producing 360 video and virtual reality experiences requires a different approach to filmmaking, there is no rule book. Different aspects need to be considered, for example, how to use binaural (or 360°) sound to maintain a sense of ‘presence’ and give audio cues to the viewer and where to place cameras for live-action shoots (hint, we spend a lot of time hiding in the bushes.)

To produce a series of films that would immerse the viewer in the world of the PSi range, we turned to traditional filmmaking techniques to build the narrative. We also used a custom remote controlled car rig to capture tracking shots of Rose and Garcia as they walked along the course, and a custom drone to follow Rose’s golf backswing as he makes contact with the ball.

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Once in post-production, we overlaid complex graphical information onto the video to create a more immersive, in-depth experience. This information, which included the type of iron used, launch angle, spin rate, height and distance of ball, was based on real-time, statistics that were fed back to the players by TaylorMade technicians. Not only does this gives golf fans a sense of being on the course with the pros, but also the chance to delve into key statistics in a unique and interesting way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oe7w7Xlu1i8&list=PLA5ZdrEA5hoJhVNyPgT4ewH8J6gEIliRT&index=1

We loved working on this project, a great client gave us a valuable opportunity to bring together our live action film and VRFX capabilities to showcase the ground-breaking technology behind TaylorMade’s latest innovation in serious golfing.

Take a look at more videos on the TaylorMade YouTube channel.

Interested in learning more about our work and approach? Get in touch below.