Bora Bora's Iconic Overwater Bungalows in 360°

Bora Bora's Iconic Overwater Bungalows in 360°

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the overwater bungalow with superswell VR's 360° video tour of the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort & Spa

What image comes to mind when you think of Bora Bora? Chances are it’s the overwater bungalow—French Polynesia’s signature accommodations that just happen to be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Unlike a typical hotel room, the thatched-roof overwater bungalows of Bora Bora sit above turquoise lagoon waters. Each bungalow offers a glass-bottom feature, so you can actually spot tropical fish swimming beneath your feet. In this VR video, see the overwater bungalows of the Bora Bora Pearl Beach Resort & Spa and other highlights of the resort including a canoe breakfast, beach activities and a killer sunset.

Virtual Reality—Behind the Scenes

It’s hard to imagine a destination that could look better in virtual reality than the islands of Tahiti, from its coral gardens and overwater bungalows to its epic purple sunsets. Naturally, when superswell VR was given a prototype of the world’s first true 3­-D omniview camera, we grabbed our swimsuits and headed straight to the island paradise of French Polynesia. 

But shooting with a prototype camera in unpredictable conditions wasn't without its challenges (i.e. "dude, this sh*t is hard").

So what happens when you expose a prototype VR camera to extreme heat, high humidity, salt water, aggressive wind and sharks? Watch the video below to find out.

14 Things We Learned While Shooting Virtual Reality

14 Things We Learned While Shooting Virtual Reality

A couple of months ago, we found ourselves in the fortunate situation of shooting virtual reality footage with a prototype VR camera...in Tahiti. Needless to say, that was an insane experience that I will never ever forget. If you want to read about that experience, check out this post, but here, we're going to lay out a few things we learned about shooting virtual reality, because, believe you we, it's nothing like shooting regular video...

Project Beyond My Expectations - Shooting Virtual Reality In Tahiti!

Project Beyond My Expectations - Shooting Virtual Reality In Tahiti!

So this is a project I've had to keep under wraps for almost a half year now, and it's been hot darn damn difficult! I recently found myself shooting virtual reality (VR) footage for a week in March with a prototype high end VR camera system. The idea was to gather footage to demonstrate the system's capabilities at the Samsung Developer Conference (SDC) in San Francisco at the end of last month, as well as Silicon Valley Virtual Reality Conference (SVVR) in Palo Alto that same week.

That alone was exciting enough. 

But...