Hidden Cities: Dublin, our latest immersive project for The Financial Times, in collaboration with Google, has launched today.

The latest offering from the FT, an immersive 3D 360° documentary, entitled ‘Dublin in the Dark: The Story of Emerald Noir’, highlights the tensions between the city’s past and present, reflecting on the new wave of Irish crime writers and their relationship to Ireland’s world-famous literary traditions. The film is narrated by award-winning Irish Crime writer, Tana French, who explores modern Dublin in her novels, and in this film, takes the viewer on an alternative journey of the city.

Natalie Whittle, FT Weekend Magazine, associate editor and editorial lead on Hidden Cities, commented: “Using VR technology has enabled us to be more creative in our documentary approach and enhance parts of the city that are normally inaccessible. Since the economic crash in 2008, crime writing has flourished in Dublin, and we were keen to show how this literary genre fits into the broader changes, both social and economic, that Dublin has experienced over the past 20 years.”

Shooting the 360° video in 3D gives the scenes a real depth, bringing to life the unusual locations making them feel more real. We used a number of rigs for the shoot, including Google’s Jump, GoPro’s Omni and the Visualise custom-made ‘Johnny Five’ 3D rig. The ‘Johnny-Five’ camera shoots in very low light situations, meaning we were able to capture the feeling and mood set by the ‘Emerald Noir’ documentary.

Henry Stuart, CEO Visualise, adds: “Dublin in the Dark is a deep piece of content that looks into one of the unexpected outcomes of the recession in Ireland. As such the locations we visited and the complexity of the story were far removed from typical 360° video productions. It was a pleasure to get our teeth into such a meaningful piece of VR content.”