Page 84 - All About History - Issue 38-16

Dan Snow

“WE TAKE

HISTORY

SERIOUSLY

AND IT’S

PART OF

OUR DNA” of the Victorian Royal Navy at its peak – when through historic

The videos are
A quick chat with gunboat diplomacy protected the interests of the novels. 50 years ago currently limited to
YouTube but could
it was Hollywood films
British Empire. VR will allow you to witness and
Wargaming’s Director of appreciate all these eras of history, and as Snow and more recently soon be available
on the likes of
Special Projects, Tracy puts it: “It’s so game changing that I think people the likes of Gladiator, Google Cardboard
have to see it to believe it. You can put on a headset
Braveheart
and Saving
Spaight and walk around the ship deciding on what you Private Ryan. Very flawed films historically but
films that conjure up a vision of the past that is
want to look at along with commentary. It’s as close
Why are you here at Chatham? as you’re going to get to the ship without coming extremely attractive and sucks you in. I’ve written
We are filming a new series called Virtually onboard yourself.” about history, I’ve blogged and tweeted about
Inside The Warship on HMS Cavalier, a history, I’ve made podcasts and videos about
C Class Destroyer launched in 1944 and saw Making history accessible history and I can safely say that VR is the most
service in the war’s Arctic campaigns. Virtual reality is a new and exciting medium of intense and rewarding method of getting history
historical presentation but what does Snow take out there.” All the videos are available online on
How important is it to Wargaming to be into consideration when making that perfect YouTube and allow the viewer to take control and
realistic and authentic? history hit? “You’ve got to choose great stories and choose their ideal viewpoint as Snow explores the
I think it’s something that permeates the for me the perfect history programmes are where ship. As well as a desktop computer, the 360 VR
entire culture of the company. We take there’s an amazing story to tell that is fascinating in video can be watched on mobile devices, laptops
history seriously and it’s part of our DNA. its own right and has impacted the way subsequent and virtual reality headsets, making this type of
When we’re building a tank or ship in the history has gone. Secondly, is it visually exciting? media a flexible and very different storytelling
game, our team goes to great pains to make Are there great landscapes and buildings? Are there experience. This really is telling history like never
it look exactly like it’s supposed to look. veterans to talk to with archives and documents before. As well as Chatham, Dan Snow has visited
We want to capture the look and feel so from the time? If you combine those two, these the likes of Rochester Castle, the Tower of London
we look at blueprints, operating manuals, factors make the TV shows I want to make.” and the National Motor Museum with his VR
historical photographs and other documents technology. As 2016 goes on, anniversaries for the
to make it as accurate as possible. If there’s The future for history and VR Battle of the Somme, Jutland and Pearl Harbor are
an existing version of the tank or ship in the So how far can the relationship between VR and coming thick and fast and Dan Snow’s 360-degree
world, we go and look at that and make sure history go? “100 years ago people got into history VR video series is sure to play a part.
our measurements are precise. If possible,
we’ll even fire up the engine to see how it
sounded and worked. We have a separate
team to take care of all of this.
Wargaming is undertaking a 360-degree
VR video series called Virtually Inside
Warships. Wargaming, who is the glue
bonding this project together, the original
progenitor of the idea, and the organization
whose mission it is to bring innovative new
media heritage storytelling experiences to
its quite massive online audience with a
particular affinity toward the subject matter.
We are an extremely unique organization,
doing some never-before-seen work at the
cross-section of new media, gaming, and
history. This is a natural step in evolution
from our previous Tanks VR video projects, a
way of making the experience even deeper, AAH spoke to Dan Snow at Chatham
richer, more immersive. Historic Dockyard, which is at the
forefront of 360-degree VR video series

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