THE RIVIERA PROJECT
What happens when a team of seven specialists sets out to record 570 VRs in 20 days?
by Giuseppe Pennisi talks to Christine K. Zarb
 Our journey was supposed to commence in Italy and conclude in Saint Tropez, but the bad weather forced us to kick off on the Côte d’Azur. During our French sojourn we mapped all the famous localities such as Saint Tropez, St. Raphael, Cannes, Antibes, Nice, Monte Carlo, Grasse and more. Every day our team, which consisted of five VR photographers, a camera operator and a post production person, drove the van to a different location to recorded the towns, harbors, lookouts, the famous buildings, art galleries, golf courses and the like. During the 20 days of the project, we recorded over 570 VRs.
The Riviera Project was conceived to add content to VRWAY by introducing a new series of QTVRs and video footage, of some of Europe’s most famous resorts, to the portal. The objective is to enable Web surfers to peruse an entire region in one swoop, to zoom into a specific location they might like to visit and to show their friends the places they stayed at. Maps that enable visitors to find any location they may be looking for facilitate these steps.
Working on such a tight schedule wasn’t all smooth sailing. We fell into all sorts of practical problems. The trip turned into a kind of Odyssey and for a while, everything that could go wrong, did. Equipment got stolen, computers broke down and our mobile phones were on the blink. We experienced a total communication meltdown; we might as well have been in the Amazon! Then our driver got sick and had to be rushed to hospital. Fortunately, it wasn’t serious and he recovered quickly.
Another problem was sending emails. Even in one of Europe’s most affluent areas, this simple task is not as straightforward as one would expect. Unless you stay in a four star hotel, the only way to email is from an Internet café. But we were on the road, working out of the van and stayed on camping grounds — none of which had an Internet connection. Without the use of electronic mail, we felt completely cut off.
As it turns out, we found ourselves on the French Riviera at the time that some of the world’s most famous international events were taking place. It was a lucky break, to experience Cannes during the International Film Festival and Monte Carlo during the Grand Prix of Monaco. Also, we went to the Laureus International Sports Awards gala at the Grimaldi Center.
It just goes to show, to be in the right place at the right time makes all the difference. We had our share of troubles but in the end, not only did we achieve what we set out to do but also, we managed to gather a lot of unexpected goodies along the way.
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