Revelator’s Deepak Chetty Creates VR Doc for Washington Post

We’re excited to share a short virtual reality documentary created by Revelator’s Deepak Chetty for Washington Post. Footage for the doc, “WAITING FOR THE POPE IN CIUDAD JUAREZ” was captured last week by Chetty and Juan Pablo Gonzalez in collaboration with the Washington Post and Moody College of Communication at UT Austin and was captured on location along the border of Ciudad Juarez and its neighboring city of El Paso, Texas. Use your cursor to scroll around the screen of the virtual reality doc to see the Pope’s historic visit. ATTN SMARTPHONE USERS: You’ll need to open this link in the YouTube app — which also works for Cardboard owners.

The doc chronicles the sights and sounds of Ciudad Juarez on the Mexican-US border as residents eagerly anticipate the February 17th arrival of Pope Francis to celebrate Mass, which marks the first of any such occasion in the city’s history. As Ciudad Juarez is an important crossing for illegal immigrants and has been afflicted by cartel violence in recent years, the Pope’s address largely centered around the humanitarian crisis surrounding forced migration. Despite the city’s ongoing troubles, the atmosphere captured by Chetty is one of hope and excitement as residents of both Mexico and the United States reflect on the historic day.

The doc was released this week on the Washington Post, in a new push by the paper to host 360-degree video stories, optimized for use with smartphones in a Google Cardboard headset. This comes shortly after the New York Times marked its own foray into virtual reality content with the NYT VR app.

In addition to his commercial work as a director, visual effects artist, and cinematographer, Chetty’s work has been featured in AFS’ 10 Under 10 series, the Longhorn Network, and through viral media propagation. Recently, he won “Best Live-Action Short” for his 3D film “Hard Reset” at the Advanced Imaging Society’s 7th Annual Awards Ceremony alongside films such as “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” and “The Martian.”

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ABOUT REVELATOR: Revelator is a full service film & video production company in Austin, Texas. We like to write, produce, & edit projects for t.v. and the web. We specialize in brand films, corporate identity work, as well digital advertising and t.v. broadcast advertising. If you need help with your script, production, or just an idea, give us a call.