The FUSION launch video was a radical new approach to our typical launches. Rather than plan a few select productions and send our media team all over the world, it was decided to send cameras and coach content creators through the process of using the new two-lens VR camera. On paper, it was great. In practice, maybe not so much. We were the step-child project next to the HERO 6 and all its fancy slow-motion glitter, so the FUSION team had a much leaner budget. The tech was still malfunctioning, buggy, and incomplete at the time. Using the camera wasn’t as straightforward as it eventually became with GoPro MAX. The workflow was insane, especially before all the eventual firmware updates, but none of that mattered. The launch was just around the corner!

Nonetheless, it was our job to create a launch reel somehow - two of them, one using our new technique called “Overcapture” and the other in a 360 (VR) format. Creatively, Alex Hogue, myself, and our trusty producers Phillipe Matteini, Jonny Burhop, and Meg Allen, with the support of our French Division (VR specialists Loïc Ballard and Valérian Dottel) as well as guidance from Senior Creative Directors: Brad Schmidt, Sam Lazurus, and Abe Kislevitz, were responsible for solving all these early limitations to create a launch reel worthy of the “GoPro” brand stamp. Our tools and plug-ins were actively developed alongside processing our 360 footage. Each week, we had breakthroughs and a better shot, and the cycle repeated until it was finished. To give you a sense, not one of the early model cameras had internal stabilization. Alex Hogue had to manually stabilize each shot using a disorganized array of plug-ins for After Effects. It shows how a small group of passionate, creative problem solvers can create something new with the odds stacked against them.

Ultimately, it was a giant obstacle course; we were the underdogs, but each person did their best to make it happen and keep the spirits high. The final reel was projected in a planetarium for the public launch event, and everything came together. The FUSION camera became the new standard for two-lens spherical video cameras, and despite the early limitations, it shattered expectations.