VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
The Future of
Film making
What is Virtual Production?
David defines virtual production (VP) as the ability to mix live footage and computer graphics at once, to get real-time feedback, and to make decisions on set about the VFX and animation. It’s real-time computer graphics on set, where real-time computer graphics can, and do, inform your decisions as a filmmaker. VP is also the process of creating the digital world, beginning with the inception of the movie and ending with the final VFX, centered around the real-time interaction on set. VFX is no longer considered post. The order of production is no longer in order.
How is it different?
Virtual Production is a completely new way of imagining the process of Film making. The biggest advantage of Virtual production is the elimination of the post workflow as it stands today.
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There is no more burned footage with 'Shots you got stuck with in post'. At any point of production we can retake any shot and integrate into the workflow without any additional work needed.
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Since each asset stands independently so the film makers have the choice to change any performance right up till the release of the project.
The future of VFx is here.
MR Factory, a production house based in Madrid, isn’t your typical media company. MR Factory is turning traditional production teams into true believers in virtual production techniques.
Targeting traditional movies that are typically shot on location, MR Factory tells its clients to skip the location shoot and come to the studio for better, faster results. By using real-time 3D backgrounds with a green screen, it’s not unusual for MR Factory to complete more than 10 minutes of finished footage per day with no post processing needed—an astounding feat in the world of film production.
The future of VFx is here.
The biggest strength of Virtual Production is minimal Post Production requirement the flexibility creators have over their vision.
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Located in Sweden, Stiller Studios is one of the most technically advanced VFX studios in the world. It can offer its clients advanced motion control and motion capture equipment, housed within a huge pre-lit green-screen space, all tied together with live real-time preview on set, courtesy of Unreal Engine.
Why is there no VFX required?
Set up at Lux Machina’s Los Angeles studio, the project demonstrates how LED walls can not only provide environments for real-world actors and props, but also light them and cast reflections on them, making it possible to capture final pixel in camera.
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Offering up their studios in Los Angeles, Lux Machina constructed an LED volume consisting of four LED panels (three walls and a ceiling) powered by nDisplay, together with engine-controlled ARRI SkyPanels. The volume displays a seamless environment running in Unreal Engine that surrounds the actor and props, who are also lit by it, and receive reflections from it. When you look through camera, you see the real-world elements perfectly integrated into the environment in real time, without the need for green screens.
ILM STAGE CRAFT
VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
AN END TO END VIRTUAL PRODUCTION SOLUTION
Industrial Light & Magic has a long history of enabling filmmakers to achieve their creative vision. Simply put, our passion is for film and the craft of filmmaking and to those ends, creative problem solving. Directors often inspire us to develop new tools and technology that in turn allow them to explore, communicate, and execute ideas in a collaborative and flexible manner. Leveraging our decades-long experience in production and effects, we are bringing the best of this technology together to create a single integrated virtual production platform we call, StageCraft – An end-to-end virtual production solution.
Case Studies by
Weta Digital New Zealand
Weta Digital is one of the world’s premier visual effects companies.
Led by Senior Visual Effects Supervisor Joe Letteri, Weta Digital is known for its culture of creativity and innovation. From Gollum to Caesar, Middle-earth to Pandora, the studio has created some of the most memorable characters and worlds of the last twenty five years.