Perspective Taking Through A VR Filmmaker | Carlos Austin
What happens when storytelling moves from capturing moments to creating immersive worlds? The skills required to tell stories in 360 degrees—deep preparation, detached observation, and authentic presence—reveal essential practices for anyone leading through uncertainty.
Inside a virtual reality headset in 2017, a tiny robot appeared. "Now, let's see what your virtual hands can do," it said. Hands materialized in the air, and suddenly, light and rainbow rays burst forth. That moment launched filmmaker Carlos Austin into an eight-year exploration of immersive storytelling that would reveal something unexpected: the practices required for 360-degree filmmaking could shed light on what the future of spirituality in leadership could look and feel like.
Every Challenge Is a Story Worth Telling
After 20 years of photographing weddings, Carlos brought this lens to virtual reality.
Wedding photography requires telling the same story repeatedly: two people finding themselves through love and family, declaring commitment, and celebrating transformation. The chaos varies—crying relatives, last-minute disasters, overwhelming emotions—but the narrative architecture remains constant: beginning, middle, transformation, celebration.
"When I do filmmaking in virtual reality, I also apply the same methods as I did when photographing weddings," he explains.
Whether filming Frank White's "Overview Effect" experience about Earth's fragility seen from space, or documenting The Meta Movie's interactive theater where audiences become heroes in alien rescue missions, the principle persists: every challenge contains a story waiting to be told.
The reframe transforms how we approach problems. Instead of seeing obstacles as threats to overcome, we can ask: What's the story here? Who are the characters? What needs to transform? "Every challenge can be a story," Carlos suggests. "It's not just a challenge. It's like an exciting challenge—rescue aliens in the spaceship." Same problem, different frame, expanded possibility.
-
MAGICademy Podcast (00:00)
What's better to share the humanities than storytelling? Oldest profession in the world. Now let's see what your virtual hands can do. And it brings your hands up in front of you. And then this blast of light and these rays come flying out and stardust and stuff like that. And I go, wow, we. And I go, that's where I, know, think cliche would be, I saw the light. Stardust is what we are.
Jiani (00:33)
Welcome to MAGICademy podcast. Today with us is Carlos. Hi Carlos.
Carlos Austin (00:38)
Hello, hello,
Jiani (00:39)
Hello, hello.
He has been in the media production industry for a long time, all the way from doing photography. And now he's fully devoted in creating 360 films in the virtual reality space.
the goal of today's conversation is to dive deeper along with Carlos to take a look at all the stories that he has been making in the virtual space. And we will explore
how do we build emotional connection? connect film production with leadership
beep beep beep. In front of you lands a spaceship. Out walks a very friendly alien. If you were to use one word, one sound, or one movement to invite this alien to play, what would that be?
Carlos Austin (01:36)
I would give them a flower.
because it's non-threatening, it's beautiful nature,
hopefully that they would speak of seeing the gesture of giving something to a being, and the flowers just represents our earth very well because there's so many beautiful flowers on this
Jiani (01:54)
So why storytelling in a virtual space?
Carlos Austin (01:57)
Well, I met this guy by the name of Crazy Mike. And why they call him Crazy Mike is that he does not shake your hands. He has his cell phone inside a plastic bag, and he wears a lot of stuff on his face. This is pre-pandemic. This is 2017. And I was flying my drone, and he came up and started talking to me and told me about a guy by the name of Paul who
invites anybody off the street into his apartment to try virtual reality. So I contacted Paul and found out that sometime in October that he was going to have a get together at seven o'clock in the afternoon he took all the furniture out of his apartment
in virtual reality computers and headsets. I was so amazed by the technology and what I was looking, seeing inside the headset.
was October, so November, I waited for Black Friday here in America.
and bought the computer and the headset and then started doing VR and from there I haven't stopped. I do it every single day
was a program in there to familiarize yourself with the application with the headset called First Contact. It's still around. And it's a little robot that comes and starts interacting with you. And you put the headset on and you go through this tutorial.
and i remember it said ⁓ now let's see what your virtual hands can do and it brings her hands up into the in front of you and then this blast of light in these rays come flying out and start does that stuff like that and i go WOOOWEE and i go that's where i you know that i think cliche would be i saw the light and
Jiani (03:47)
in
Carlos Austin (03:47)
in love with that one little
when you go into these virtual spaces, you have to build the world or the foundation for you to go inside of it. And two of my best friends in VR created this thing called the overview effect, which is a man by the name of Frank White that interviewed over 200 astronauts.
and about being in space and the one thing that he one of the main things that he got out of it was how fragile planet earth is and why is it that we have so many issues fighting amongst us when we're just on this tiny little marble floating out in the vastness of the universe and so this is
video I'm going to show you is people onboarding going into the space and then going to watch the Frank White had narrate his experience of this. I'll go ahead and bring that
MAGICademy Podcast (05:01)
I just talked to a recent astronaut today, interview her, and many astronauts use the word she used, which is fragile. The earth looks fragile.
by itself against the backdrop of infinity.
So the astronauts have this experience. They have a shift in consciousness.
They realize fundamentally that the earth is a whole system. There are no borders. There are no boundaries. They know that intellectually.
So you can get a little bit of a feeling of what we're talking about as we rise above a city into the clouds. And we're going to ascend rather slowly. And as we go, you'll be feeling more and more of the overview effect.
Take another step. Stay in the planet, but another step.
As we go higher, you can imagine what it's like to be, let's say, on Mount Everest, about as high as you can get from the surface of the Earth. And you're reaching a point where you can't go any higher without special equipment.
And that we're really living on a tiny sliver of land.
that doesn't go very far up into the atmosphere. And once you pass a certain line called the Karman line,
You're in space.
And as we move into space, I invite you to look forward toward the sun. Take a look around you now if you'd like and see where we're located, still on the planet. But as we move away, face the way I'm facing now toward the sun up ahead for the overview effect experience.
Come over closer, please. Let's be one family. We're going to see a watch special animation. It's going to be nicer when we all stand in here together. Okay. All right. Come over here. Just feel free. Good. Thank you, Shushu. You got it.
Alright, so we're gonna look at the sun.
and
Let's go there.
you
Certainly you know that there's conflict down there and certainly you know that there's pain and suffering and injustice and you know that those are still there but that's replaced for a moment by how beautiful it is.
you
If I permanently lived off the planet, I would always see the Earth as a whole system. I would understand things that we have been trying to understand for thousands of years.
Our experience is the same as our ancestors a thousand years ago, of our ancestors 35,000 years ago. We need to see that the entire planet is an interconnected whole system and that we are all in this together.
view of the Earth from space and in space. That's our true situation. We're on a natural spaceship. That natural spaceship actually is moving through the universe at a high rate of speed.
Carlos Austin (07:50)
this is Frank White. This is his avatar that you see in front talking to us. And behind him is the portal that will take you into that. So I'm going to fast forward.
Wait for it.
so this, all those astronauts that you see in the video are actual human beings on some part of the planet. the creator of this experience, Shu Shu, he's in Krakow, Poland, and his co-partner is in Germany, in Hamburg, Germany, and they built this experience. Frank White is here in the States.
The music was specifically designed when you got the headset on and you're surrounded by the other astronauts and hearing the audio and everything, it made a lot of people cry because it's such a powerful message that he is sharing with the rest of us through virtual reality.
and i as a cinematographer vr filmmaker i have another cameraman by the name of john who is in actually in ⁓ philadelphia known pittsburgh and he and i are shooting these different angles we're shooting these different shots so you see it cut from a wide angle to a close-up
Jiani (09:03)
the music definitely plays a role as we gradually see the overview as we see song and earth.
and see how small small we are like you mentioned the fragileness a sense of awe and wonder like ⁓
Carlos Austin (09:18)
Stardust
is what we are. And
is just such a different way to see life.
you to videos on your phone or going to the movie cinema mean iMAX is fantastic but when was the last time you went to an iMAX movie
There's a project called the Meta Movie. There's a man in New York by the name of Jason Moore that is a teacher for television production.
in a school in Brooklyn. And I met him back seven years ago and he was doing movies in virtual reality where you are the hero.
he created Alien Rescue, which is also where you are a hero and you go on a campaign to capture a creature that is becoming extinct and you go with a bunch of
professional actors.
And what you do, you join in as a hero, and then you go through this campaign with these actors, and they, you guide the story to a certain degree, but the actors will bring you back to the main story so you can get through the entire.
episode and what I did I would go in as an invisible avatar with an invisible switcher and I could attach cameras to the front of the actors and put static cameras inside the campaign and as we moved through it we I would switch that and then that would show up on Twitch live and the whole campaign was about an hour and 30 minutes
Jiani (11:03)
so cool
Carlos Austin (11:04)
I mean it's cutting edge
MAGICademy Podcast (11:15)
Welcome to the Black
The Kalecite Research Facility. Your mission. The team is waiting. These eyebots will accompany you to keep you safe. Or perhaps they'll get you killed. They are unpredictable.
Well, look who's here. How do we even know we can trust them? I vouch for him, Baxter. Hey, I told you, I go by axe now. Shut up!
The Zabatager has the most toxic blood in the galaxy and these bastards are weaponizing her. We can't let that happen.
split up let's see what you can find please i'm innocent let me go he's lying your call
Get it!
Carlos Austin (13:00)
The thing about the show, everything that can go wrong goes wrong inside the show. I'm not going to give it away because I would prefer that any of you that are watching this that you would actually experience it. But it is just like you're part of a video game and the graphics are absolutely stunning and it's fun and the actors are fantastic people.
And they're spread all over the world. have people in South Africa, here in the States, and Europe. And so this is all going simultaneously. And one of the things that Jason figured out with his programmers is that you could type in a word in the chat of Twitch, and then you would hear a sound in the game. It would trigger a sound like a boom or...
some blood curling scream or something like that which was very nice because you as a viewer on twitch you could actually interact with the actors and the actors would hear that sound in the game so it's just it's just really amazing all the stuff that's happening right now with this and so much more that to come
Jiani (14:09)
That's
That's beautiful.
What do you think is the magic that creates the emotional connections inside of a storytelling scenario in that immersive environment?
Carlos Austin (14:23)
magic is that you feel that you're right there with the people that you're hanging out
through their voice and through their movement. And for me, what I do is I go in and I typically, I learned this trick, actually I lived in France many years ago and French television, they do extreme closeups of people.
And so I usually when I'm doing shows, I get in really tight on their faces and you can see that most expression.
because some of the actors have face tracking. Like HTC Vive, it has a camera that looks at your face and when you blink your eyes or stick your tongue out or make some weird expression, it replicates that on your avatar. So when you're able to get close up to an actor and stuff, you have the sense that you're in the presence of them in real life,
Jiani (15:18)
That's amazing.
Carlos Austin (15:18)
it.
Jiani (15:27)
Are there newer technologies that's coming, way of storytelling that you're excited about?
Carlos Austin (15:34)
I am there's so one is the full body tracking. What you do is you put sensors on your body. They're little puck like things that you strap on with Velcro on your elbows, on your torso, your legs. And so when you see a person walking around in virtual reality, it's just as close as it can be to an actual human being.
And the other thing is they're working on right now it's very expensive but are haptics where you put a vest on or gloves and you can actually feel when you grab something you're actually touching something and your body perceives that. And I mean it's always the price, price money money money that drives this and they're I mean that I think the Tesla suit was I
Don't quote me, but might be like $10,000 or something like that. But Sony came out with a set of trackers that are like $350 that you can put, strap yourself into. So you go into VR chat.
Jiani (16:37)
full body.
Carlos Austin (16:41)
And so that's a whole nother world for people that create avatars. When you go into VRChat, there are some of the most beautiful avatars with such intricate designs. have just when the music is playing, are avatars change colors. They've got cats all over them, tattoos.
And it's just an amazing experience to be sitting in your house, in your shorts, and experiencing these amazing get togethers from filmmakers to music events to conferences. And for me, that's super
interesting too, there's a guy by the name of Palmer Lucky. This kid, he built the first headset in the garage of his parents in Long Beach.
And basically he took two iPhones and took them apart and built the headset. then a guy by the name of John Carmack that did Doom, the game from the 80s or 90s, and he saw the headset and helped them with a Kickstarter or at least was an evangelist for him. And then Meta bought the technology for like 700 million dollars.
and then Lucky worked for Oculus for a while but then he left and went on his own but that really is what launched the VR because a lot of people say well VR is dead and they've been I know a guy that I physically know his name is Tom Furness he's been doing VR for 60 years he was doing it for six zero yeah
Jiani (18:12)
6060.
Carlos Austin (18:14)
He started back with the military and they spent millions and millions of dollars trying to get VR for fighter jet pilots to train them to be able to fly better and be better pilots. But I went, he lives in the Seattle area and I went up there not too long ago and actually physically met him in person. But I first met him in VR for quite a long time.
And speaking of meeting people in VR, it's so magical when you actually get to meet them in real life. And I've had that experience multiple times and it's very special.
Jiani (18:51)
Thank you for sharing those stories. And I'm curious, a lot of our audiences are people who are building startups, people who are leading innovations, people who are developing other people. What suggestions can you share with us in terms of
Carlos Austin (18:53)
You
Jiani (19:08)
being able to perceive things from a holistic perspective, having that emotional connection, especially the world is getting so unpredictable more and more, it's like more and more, faster and faster. how can we have that sort of like VR immersive filmmaker storyteller kind of perspective as we approach daily
normal life and leading teams and leading ourselves to come up with solutions and help each other.
Carlos Austin (19:47)
Well, so my professional life, most of my adult life, I photographed weddings for over 20 years and did family portrait.
And when you do weddings, you have to tell a story. You have to tell a story about two people that find themselves through love and through their families and come together to tell everybody we're getting married and we're committed to each other. And then you have a big party after that. So my job was to be able to tell that story every single time that I did a wedding. And when I do virtual reality, I also do the same thing
where I go in, I'll do my homework too if I find out who's going to be in VR if it's some sample for a job.
I'll find out what the background is. Many times a lot of these people have Wikipedia pages or go to their websites and read their bios or LinkedIn and stuff like this and get familiarized with it. And then when I go into the actual experience or into virtual reality with my camera, then I'm able to try to approach and tell that story as best as possible that syncs up with the person that I'm
Jiani (20:58)
the detachment comes from this sense of curiosity and also this responsibility of doing due diligence before the story is being taken.
every one of us, no matter if you're a team member, if you're a leader, everybody is a leader actually, and we just lead different things. So everybody assume this kind of storyteller. So we pivot from leader mindset to a storyteller mindset and use that storyteller mindset to...
get curious, to learn as much as we can, to learn from different persons perspective as diverse as we can and then tell the stories and then put things together through storytelling.
Carlos Austin (21:39)
Yeah, exactly.
Jiani (21:40)
then every
challenge can be a story. It's like a... it's like a challenge. Yeah, it's like an exciting challenge. Like rescue aliens
Carlos Austin (21:50)
I'm always trying to find how to give a better or to tell a better story every time I go in there. One of my favorite types of coverage that I like is music.
there's such a variety of music out there. did a 13 hour, actually it was 12 hour streaming of Amma Piano, which is a weird mix of music from South Africa. And they had a live stage in an old prison in Johannesburg where they had the artist,
Jiani (22:04)
music
Carlos Austin (22:23)
playing music and stuff and then they also had it going on in vr at the same time and people in johannesburg were shooting the footage in real life why i did the virtual and then they mixed them both and stream that out and units just i've been exposed to types of music that i never would normally listen to from classical too
electronic to very grassroots kind of music as it was with the South African stuff.
Jiani (22:52)
nice.
Carlos Austin (22:53)
One of the other things that we love to do is go world hopping. And what that means is that you go from one creation to another creation to another creation and explore those worlds. And it's like going.
to cities or countries, each world has its own special magic and you try to discover that magic through going with a group of your friends and exploring those worlds.
Jiani (23:24)
as we conclude this episode, what did you enjoy creating or playing so much that time disappeared for you when you were around like 11?
Carlos Austin (23:33)
When I was 11 well as you can see by my gray hair I am very advanced in my age and 11 I actually don't remember anything very much under 18 years old I've been my life where it got interesting was after I got out of high school so but 11 I grew up playing in the streets
⁓ i would like watching television but i'd like to invent things back then and i even had us the fantasy of having a band that was called inventors and ⁓ i created my dad had a workshop wood workshops so i would build stuff for myself in that workshop and one thing was ⁓ very simple thing but it was just a a box
that had sides, a top, and then I put two speakers here. And then I cut out all these pieces of clip art from magazines and stuff and plastered the inside of the box with that and then hooked it up to my stereo. And it was like having headphones, but without having the pressure of the headphones the way I have them on right now, that the music sounded very pure.
And then I was a big animal lover and loved, we had kitties and I loved my cats back then and still do.
Jiani (24:44)
so cool.
We have a puppy. think animals have... animals sometimes remind us with the most simplest fact that everything is just pure love. That's what we... unconditional love. That's... yeah. So healing. What do you think over all is your magic?
Carlos Austin (24:52)
Yeah.
unconditional.
to be able to connect with people very fast i have worked as a flight attendant for number of years and when planes that i flew in we had a hundred and fifty five passengers and i had to connect with them very fast and give them an experience that they felt comfortable and safe under i'd you know we were trained for emergencies and stuff and so after
And then I also did hitchhiking across the United States and Mexico. And to be able to meet people and to connect with them was my magic. My wife is always talking, telling people about that because I can walk up to people and start a conversation. And I don't talk about the weather. I talk about stuff that really seems to be important to both of us.
Jiani (25:54)
beautiful I think I witnessed and experienced your magic and your magic helped to open up a new dimension in my life
Carlos Austin (25:59)
likewise.
an interesting thing. talk to people about VR a lot and I find that
a lot of adults have access to VR but it belongs to the kids. Their kids or a relative has the headset or stuff. You can go over there and ask them if you can borrow the headset and just download an experience and try it out for yourself. Don't do any of the games unless you're into that. But the social aspect is very interesting. I, for example, play a game that's called Walkabout.
mini golf and just before this show I was playing with seven people we were in England and here in the States in Las Vegas New York
⁓ birmingham england and remember where the other country is others but we're playing around of golf and it's ⁓ you can have update people the game is only fifteen dollars and you play you can play with strangers so you can play with family members and that's very very well done game and it it just works that's you know even
My wife who never cared for virtual reality, when I turned her on to that game, she said, buy me a headset. She was in there and she loves playing the game herself. We play every day, literally.
Jiani (27:22)
That's beautiful! Such a great time and thank you Carlos for being here with us and we'll keep exploring.
Carlos Austin (27:25)
Ha ha ha.
are very welcome.
Very good. Much health and love to all of you.
The Invisible Observer's 360-Degree Vision
In VR, Carlos can "detach my eyeballs from my avatar and fly around freely as an invisible avatar where you can't see me." His cameras become a flying camera, observing without intruding. Drawing from French television's tradition of extreme close-ups, he explains: "I get in really tight on their faces and you can feel their emotion & expression."
This dual consciousness—simultaneously inside and outside the experience—represents advanced spirituality in leadership capacity. During 90-minute live-streamed performances, Carlos uses multiple avatars as cameras, switching perspectives in real-time. "There usually were three cameramen, including myself, who would go through the campaign as invisible avatars. You couldn't see us, but you could see what we were looking at."
The 360-degree camera doesn't choose one angle initially. It captures everything, determining in post-real time which perspectives serve the story. Leaders can adopt this approach: collect multiple viewpoints before deciding, maintain observation discipline while remaining engaged, and understand that position affects what becomes visible and the narrative.
Face-tracking technology captures every blink and expression, replicating them on avatars. "When you're able to get close up to a person/avatar," Carlos notes, "you have the sense that you're in the presence of them in real life." Yet he achieves this intimacy while remaining invisible—detached enough to see clearly, engaged enough to capture truth.
The practice isn't about technology. It's about training yourself to hold multiple perspectives simultaneously, to be present and observant, to collect before you decide.
Preparation Enables Presence
Flight attendants face an impossible task: 155 passengers per flight, all requiring safety and comfort, immediately. Carlos worked those aisles for years and learned something counterintuitive—meaningful connection at speed isn't about charisma. It's about a preparation meeting
“I can walk up to people and start a conversation just about anything and everything," he says. But the secret isn't spontaneity.
Before filming VR experiences, he does homework: "I'll find out who's going to be in VR. Many times, these people have Wikipedia pages or websites. I'll read their bios, LinkedIn, and get familiarized." When he enters virtual spaces with his camera, this due diligence enables him to "approach and tell that story as best as possible that syncs up with the person I'm covering."
The paradox: you cannot be fully present without first doing the work of understanding. What looks like magic is actually practiced curiosity.
This principle scales across media. Despite the physical distance, the presence of other people is real. When filming the Overview Effect with people from around the world, when you are in a headset, you're surrounded by the people, hearing their voices, seeing their movements. You are standing in the space looking at the earth right in front of you, which could move you to tears because, despite all the conflicts, sufferings, and separations, you realize how fragile the earth actually is in a vast universe.
Quality of attention trumps physical proximity. The question for us: What do I need to know about people I work with to truly see them? How to enable an authentic connection rather than performing it?
The Invitation to Play
When asked how he'd greet a friendly alien landing in a spaceship, Carlos's answer reveals his entire philosophy: "I would give them a flower. Because it's non-threatening, it's a beautiful nature, and I think it's a language they would speak—seeing the gesture of giving something to a being." (We hope the alien is not allergic to flowers. Maybe we need to do some homework beforehand.)
Spirituality in leadership, like filmmaking, is ultimately about helping each other see what each other sees. Not through force or argument, but through beauty and engagement. The flower represents shared earth. The story represents shared humanity. The 360-degree perspective represents willingness to stand where others stand, to prepare before engaging, to observe while remaining present, to find a collective narrative in chaos.
The most powerful technology isn't the headset—it's the quality of attention we offer.
Carlos reflects on what enables his rapid connections: "I don't talk about the weather. I talk about stuff that really seems to be important to both of us. The conversation is very meaningful." This isn't magic. It's practice. It's choosing to ask better questions. It's doing homework before showing up. It's holding multiple perspectives while remaining grounded in your own.
"Let's see what your hands can do," the robot said eight years ago. For anyone willing to adopt a filmmaker's eye, the light and rainbow rays are just beginning to emerge. The invitation stands: put on new perspectives, prepare deeply, observe with grace, connect authentically. The technology—whether headset or human attention—simply amplifies what we already possess.
Learning to witness, hold complexity, and weave multiple truths into understanding
⭐ Connect with Carlos Austin
Carlos Austin is a VR filmmaker and drone pilot based in Austin, Texas, recognized for his pioneering work in immersive video production and “in-world” multi-camera broadcasting within virtual reality platforms. As a third-generation photographer and storyteller, he merges his background in photography with emerging XR and drone technologies, capturing conferences and live events across virtual and physical spaces. Carlos is also active as a virtual reality evangelist and educator, having worked with clients such as Educators in VR, IEEE, and EngageVR, and leads initiatives to promote VR experiences for diverse audiences.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/carlos-austin-22196557/ (We invite you to reach out to Carlos, and he would bring you on a ride ;)
Carlos’ MAGIC
Carlos’s particular gift—connecting rapidly with strangers, whether hitchhiking across continents or meeting avatars in virtual worlds—didn't emerge from VR technology. It found new expression there. The headset simply revealed what was always true: genuine curiosity about what matters to all people in a conversation creates a connection that transcends medium, distance, and circumstance. The filmmaker's eye he brings to immersive storytelling is the same eye he's always brought to being human with other humans—fully present, thoroughly prepared, and genuinely interested in the substance beneath the surface.
Writing Process
Initial Draft: Claude ai
Initial Story Revision: Dr. Jiani Wu
Guest Alignment Review: Carlos Austin
Final Alignment Review: Dr. Jiani Wu
Initial Publication: Oct 4, 2025
Disclaimer:
AI technologies are harnessed to create initial content derived from genuine conversations. Human re-creation & review are used to ensure accuracy, relevance & quality.
