Colorado River VR Tour

Created by immersive filmmaker Sam Baumel with Aquarius Water Experience (AWE) and CJ Conway, the Colorado River VR Tour takes students, scientists and policymakers on a 240-mile rafting expedition through the Grand Canyon, from Lees Ferry to Lake Mead, to discover its landmarks and why the river must be protected.

A week on the river, captured in the field: Sam and his team shot the whole expedition in photos, video and 360° video: rapids through 4-billion-year-old rock, side canyons, sacred sites and nights on the riverbank. Hours of raw immersive footage had to become one clear, interactive story that works in any browser and in a VR headset.

On our side, we took on the editing and the build of the experience. A phenomenal amount of work: selecting, grading and stitching the 360° footage, cutting the video sequences and assembling everything into an interactive WebXR tour, with a guided route and a chapter for each stop: Marble Canyon, the Nankoweap granaries, the Little Colorado confluence, Deer Creek Falls, Havasu Creek, Hoover Dam and Lake Mead. The result is a unique immersive experience you can step into from a desk, a classroom or a headset.