Yosemite, and President Obama, head into virtual reality

NEW YORK (AP) — In a new project with National Geographic, Barack Obama becomes the first sitting U.S. president to project himself into virtual reality — in this case, a 360-degree representation of Yosemite National Park.

The 11-minute VR video, narrated by Obama, is one part paean to the wonders of America's national parks and one part warning of the threat posed by climate change.

The video concludes with Obama urging viewers in a voice-over to take action on the environment in light of threats such as wildfires and melting glaciers.

Nonetheless, the video could be a hard sell, warned Joel Espelien, an analyst with Diffusion Group, which tracks emerging video formats and services.

At this juncture, many VR projects feel experimental , as if their producers mainly wanted to play with new filmmaking techniques or showcase the technology's potential.

[...] the Yosemite project managed to avoid a common VR pitfall that can render landscape shots remote and distant because 360-degree cameras lack zoom.