before we began our creative process, we wanted to investigatE the stories behind The yarra ranges
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To ensure that the project we created spoke clearly enough about the problem, and to the right people, we underwent an extensive research process. Our areas of research included a Parks Victoria brand audit, how competitor’s use 360 video and virtual reality, Parks Victoria target market research, and current 360 video and virtual reality technologies.
Who are Parks Victoria, and where does this project need to fit? Parks Victoria is a governmental organisation, with parks and reserve systems consolidated over the past 120 years. They are accountable for organising a growing and diverse estate covering over 4 million hectares, or about 17 per cent, of Victoria. Not only do these accumulative sites provide striking landscapes, environments worth protecting, distinctive species and areas that preserve cultural heritage; they also contribute to Victoria’s health and wellbeing, liveability and economy; attracting 98.5 million visits every year. This project needs to sit alongside their current values, and no doubt incorporate their moto "Healthy Parks, Healthy People". We want to be able to not only speak to their current brand image, but even build on this to bring in more audience members. What are other organisations doing that Parks Victoria aren't? Many other state organisations throughout Australia have embraced the phenomena that is 360 video as it is a fantastic way of showcasing landscapes and wildlife alike. Whilst Parks Victoria have touched on this with several recent videos, we believe there is great potential to create some very special stories through this medium. So who will this video be for, and what are people already saying about the Yarra Ranges National Park? One of the first steps in this project was understanding who we needed to be targeting through this video. By looking at statistics of those who are the most prolific users of the Parks in comparison with the demographics that aren't, we were able to create a unique profile of individuals who indeed love nature and what it offers, but don't exactly know how to express it. Of course there are many people out there who are already engaging with the great national parks we have in Victoria, and we wanted to investigate those stories. As seen here in an Instagram post, people love telling stories about the majesty of nature, and the great wonders that fill our national parks, something we endeavoured to captured in our own content.
Finally, how can we be sure that this 360 will be the right way to engage audience members? As with all elements of our project, we of course looked into the capabilities of 360 video, and why it would be a fabulous way to engage audience members who mightn't otherwise be interested. Whilst it is relatively new technology, there is no doubt that the novelty of being able to just view spaces in 360 has begun to ware off on audience members, so the problem becomes, how do you make this interesting? Our research lead us to the finding that a video will be more compelling when there is a prompt for participation, or when it evokes an emotional response from the audience. This lead us to the findings that individuals are more likely to visit specified area's if they have developed a feeling of attachment to the site in question. All of this greatly impacted the 360 video experience we would come to create. |