Co-founder of Linkin Park Mike Shinoda returns, nearly ten years since releasing The Rising Tied, the debut studio album from his side project, Fort Minor. But he's come back in true, cutting-edge style, with this 360-degree virtual reality music video for his single, Welcome, directed by Jeff Nicholas. 

Mike and his collaborators at The Uprising Creative in LA joined forces to create a unique experience of Venice Beach where everyone is invited. As discussions progressed betweeen Shinoda and Nicholas, a common vision surfaced: Mike would throw a party in Venice Beach, paint a giant canvas with original designs and invite everyone around to join the fun. Meanwhile, Nicholas and his crew would capture it all with a GoPro-based VR rig. 

The next day, the crew used a similar setup to photograph the finished 12x80-foot canvas in 360-degrees on LA's world famous Mack Sennett Studios soundstages, and capture performances of Shinoda playing drums, guitar, and keyboards on the track.

JEFF NICHOLAS:

"As a medium, virtual reality and 360-degree cinema are completely new frontiers of exploration. The entire language of filmmaking is being rewritten as new ways to engage the viewer and lead them back to the central narrative are discovered. Knowing that good VR can offer viewers unforgettable experiences, we set out to capture some poignant video portraits where we can learn, share and interact in some different scenes while Mike creates art and pulls us in with his performance.

"VR/360 storytelling is very different from traditional storytelling. For this reason, the video has fewer cuts than a traditional video, allowing viewers to establish where they are and have the opportunity to look around and explore scenes. We kept the camera movements to a minimum and placed performance clips and visual cues to strategically invite viewers into the narrative."