BUCLE started as my final project for my psychology class during junior year at high school. My teacher, Pablo Galván, encouraged us to explore different mental disorders and produce a report on what we discovered. After producing mine, I realised how interesting this topic was and how little awareness there was on it.

Again, encouraged by my teacher, I decided to shoot a short film that depicted a story on this disorder. During the pre-production, I thought about how I wanted to explore a medium that allowed me to create a visually interesting yet confusing environment. Around February, I decided to invest my savings in a Samsung Gear 360, one of the first 360 cameras available at that time. I wrote a script and started developing the idea, while recruiting some of my classmates and friends for the production of the film. We shot during six days across Easter break.

Exploring 360 video

A great part of the project was investigating new ways of recording. 360 is a very difficult medium because it’s impossible to fully decide on what the audience will focus on at each moment. This uncertainty is also present on the viewers’ side - they aren’t quite sure if they’re looking at the right place. Such state was used to generate a certain amount of confusion, which I believe tied well to the theme of the story.

One of the ideas I came up with was mixing 360 with a drone perspective. Using a DJI Phantom 4, a custom rig was built to hook the 360 camera far enough from the drone to get it out of focus. This rig prevented the drone from being able to take off on its own. Above can be seen how one of the aerial shots was recorded, and to the right, how it had to be held to start flying.

Experiments on how to shoot 360 indoors were also performed. By recording several shots of the same scene with the camera on a tripod and juxtaposing them, I was able to use several light pieces without them appearing in the final cut. Examples of this can be seen above and below.

The music for BUCLE is an arrangement by Nerea herself. This arrangement includes Arabeske Op. 18 in C Major by Schumann and Estudio Op. 25 #1 by Chopin. A digital recording of her performance was used. In addition, we obtained permission in Conservatorio Profesional de Música de Tenerife to record in its main concert hall.

Reception

The short film was premiered in CINEDFEST, an education-focused movie festival in the Canary Islands. BUCLE was the first short film in 360º format, and represents a milestone in the festival’s history. It was considered finalist at a regional level. A flat version of the film was produced to be projected and a Making Of video, available via the button below, was also published.

BUCLE, the full 360 short film, is available on YouTube: