PRODUCTION/POST
VIRTUAL PRODUCTION: THE FUTURE L P ODU ON
Virtual production is changing the way that high- end TV and films are being made, directing actors on set in conjunction with real-time computer- generated environments, but how is it likely to evolve? Michael Burns reports
THE FUTURE OF VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
odern virtual production (VP) encompasses a wide field of the physical mixed with the
virtual. From virtual scouting, techvis and remote multi-user collaboration, to in-camera visual effects (ICVFX) and ‘final pixels’ rendered with the Unreal Engine or other real-time engines. Fully enclosed spaces lined with live LED walls are becoming increasingly common for virtual production, but it’s not the only method. “Large, 360° LED Volumes are
certainly in vogue and talked about a lot these days but we still use projection, or smaller LED walls, or even green screen when appropriate,” says Zach Alexander, co-President of Lux Machina Consulting, a NEP Virtual Studios company, which has worked on The Mandalorian and other projects. “They all have their strengths and weaknesses, it’s more of a matter of what you are trying to ultimately do. The current pairing of LED volumes and real-time render engines exists because those two technology stacks feed very nicely into each other but at the end of the day it’s about using the right tool for the job.”
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Scope for innovation This is a main focus at Final Pixel,
but the global creative studio is also exploring using LED walls for live motion capture to drive a CG creature using cluster rendering. It recently captured an in-camera composite with interaction from a real-world actor. “We’ve only really scratched the
surface of what can be achieved with all these tools together, so further integrations and smoothing out control will undoubtedly happen quickly,” says CEO and Co-Founder Michael McKenna. “The scope for innovation now that technology has firmly landed on the film set is colossal. Typically many people are using VP to project static backgrounds – but these are game engines. We’ve been working on AI-driven background characters, live motion capture, cluster rendering and DMX driven lighting in Unreal.” 1899 provides a good example of a
number of present and future trends in virtual production. The forthcoming multilingual
period mystery television series for Netflix was shot on a dedicated virtual production stage, one of Europe’s largest, built by DARK BAY at Studio Babelsberg, located outside of Berlin. According to Philipp Klausing,
Executive Producer / Managing Director at DARK WAYS & DARK BAY, the virtual production studio environment was built for the show, and a collective was formed to operate it. “We are content creators, so we formed a partnership with companies who are highly qualified world-class players in their area of expertise,” says Klausing. The facility contains a LED volume
using ROE Visual LED walls, Vicon and Trackmen tracking systems, ARRI Skypanels and an adjustable ceiling for interactive lighting, eight workstations for processing the virtual production content (commonly known as a brain bar) and a rain rig for water effects. A turntable (capable of taking up to 25t) was integrated to offer an innovative revolving stage. “You can rotate physical sets on the turntable and the changeover of any a shooting setup is three minutes,” he says. “I think every VP stage should have one.” The collective includes Framestore,
which as well as VFX supervision works with the production designer to develop content on the virtual stage, along with Faber AV, a leading vendor for audiovisual installation in the entertainment industry. “You need to work a lot with colours and processing
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