Three episodes of an action-packed 3D tour of the most interesting rooms of the Kaliningrad Cathedral where scenario, historical characters, visual effects and animation are integrated.
VR-journey "The Cathedral: Hidden Signs and Secret Doors" is the fruit of the collaboration between employees of the Kaliningrad Cathedral and the Franema company film makers (director Arseniy Zayanchkovsky, producer Roman Vakhitov), which was created thanks to a grant received from the Vladimir Potanin Foundation.
Online tour comprises 3 episodes: "Ghosts of the Past", "What the Organ is Silent About", "Between the Lines of the Wallenrodt Library". The host takes the guests on an interactive journey through the "secret" and inaccessible rooms of the Cathedral. Desired participation effect is achieved through the possibility for the users to change viewing angle by themselves by mobile phone moving or using a computer mouse, to zoom in and to remove an image in real time. Active use of animation tools, scenarios involving historical characters, sound and visual effects integrated with panoramic view turn an immersion into the historical and cultural context mentioned in the narrator's story into a truly fascinating adventure. Tour episodes are distinguished by a dynamic narrative and a variety of visual solutions, so that even the youngest or unprepared viewer does not get bored. Therewith, there remains a traditional possibility of 3D tours - to stop and "to look around" where you want. Insta360 Pro 2 camera with six lenses and 8k maximum resolution made it possible to do travel shot. Unlike other tours, user here is not exploring premises from a single point, but moving along a given route still being able to change the viewing angle freely. Ultra-high definition resolution allows you to see all the details of a medieval building.
Panoramic travel shot has 2D and 3D animated scenes as well as other visual effects integrated. Not only they complement the narrator's story and scenario with historical characters, but act as attention switches to keep the user interested. These techniques together turn immersion to cultural and historical content into a fascinating journey. Starting from October 5, 2021, the film has been hosted in the library of the Okko multimedia service within the framework of Sberbank PJSC project "Location-Oriented Content". It is planned that benches around the Cathedral will be marked with QR codes giving access to the episodes. Digital format of the project makes it possible to touch the unique history of Königsberg-Kaliningrad and the Cathedral and to satisfy the demand for remote access to high-quality cultural content for the target groups which are new for the institution: residents of remote corners of the Kaliningrad Region and other regions of Russia, handicapped people who cannot mount the stairs of the museum, go behind the altar nor to the organ platform due to architectural peculiarities of the building, people with hearing impairment and non-Russian-speakers who may use subtitles available, as well as teenagers and youngsters interested in modern digital audiovisual culture.
