On YOUR Production, VIRTUAL Production might simply consist of camera tracking and capturing camera data for post VFX. Or a single LED panel outside a window so the actors can open the curtains on a stage window. Or maybe it’s a massive virtual set on a massive LED capture volume.
Take a look at your script breakdown to see how VP might be right for you.
I can help you find the places where VP might make sense for your production, plus create and execute a production plan that will have all of your colleagues asking how you possibly captured that image on that budget.
Does your script breakdown include any of the following?
- Scenes Inside a Moving Vehicle
- Dialogue Close-Ups at Expensive Locations
- Set Extensions
- Views Outside Windows
- Virtual Creatures or other Composited Elements
- Locations that don’t exist in the physical world
- Your Talent standing in front of a massive LED wall while graphics play behind and around them
- Full CG animation
Do you have expensive locations that may need pick-ups?
- Plan ahead to re-create filmed sets and locations for virtual pickups that intercut seamlessly with production footage.
4 flavors of VP
To suit the needs of any given production or sequence there are four main flavors of VP.
1. Soundstage – Location – Full CG
Add camera tracking to your camera package to preview creatures and set extensions in-monitor during filming on any location or stage.
For fully CG content film on a soundstage with practical camera equipment and crew. Scale your CG world, animate the characters anyway you want, but film them with a human crew using practical cameras.
Capture camera and set data for use in post VFX.
2. Green Screen
Film on the same chroma stage you always do, but add camera tracking!
Preview lineups for virtual sets and characters in-monitor with Real Time Compositing on a Chroma stage.
Capture camera and set data for use in post VFX.
Film in-camera VFX to final pixel with real time compositing when lighting and reflections aren’t crucial.
3. Reflections and Lighting on LED Volume
Do you need to capture reflective elements on your talent, but don’t want to commit to capturing final pixel in camera? Capture on an LED stage with rough CG elements! Get lighting and reflections on your actors, then comp in a traditional post workflow.
Capture camera and set data for use in post VFX.
4. Final Pixel In-Camera VFX on LED Volume
Jump into the void and capture final pixel in-camera VFX on an LED tracking volume. This is a commitment.
This process must start during your script breakdown to have any chance of being successful.
To capture final pixel in-camera VFX a production must allow – in pre-production – as much time to create the assets needed for filming as they would traditionally schedule for the assets to be created in post, plus time for them to be tested on the volume with the production cameras.
LED Stage Environment Types
The images on an LED stage should be the ones best suited to the sequence you’re filming. There is no one best option. From stills and video to 3D representations of real and imagined environments, choose the right tool for your goals.
2D Still
The most cost effective option to create in-camera visual effects, 2D still images are a good option for stills photography, especially tabletop images of smaller objects.
2D Stills are not a good option if they will be prominent in frame or if parallax is needed in the background.
360 Video
360º video is a great tool to create seamless driving dialogue sequences. Free the camera from the hood mount to follow the story inside, outside, and around the vehicles as the characters drive.
2D video, including 360º video is not able to create parallax and might best be thought of as the evolution of rear-projection processes.
3D Environment
Unleash the full power of an LED tracking volume with a fully immersive 3D environment presented in Unreal Engine. Adjust virtual props and lighting in the environment during production.
3D Environments are the most expensive option. Price varies widely from kit-bashed to bespoke.
Photorealistic full 3D real time environments can take vast amounts of time and resources, while simpler styles can have quite nimble timelines and budgets.
VP Workflows
VP workflows shuffle work that would traditionally happen in POST up to PRE. Consider your virtual environments the same way you consider physical locations and sets. In some workflows final VFX assets must be completed before principal filming can begin.
If your production plans to capture final pixels in camera, be sure to start your VP plan even before the breakdown of your project. Let’s chat!
LED
Final Pixel
LED
Reflections
Green
or Full CG
Traditional
Post VFX
Practical
NO VFX
Set Assembly and Dressing
STORYBOARD – Explore visual language for project in an fast, iterative process using 2D images
PREVIZ – Determine motion and editorial language of project with basic 3D models and animation
STAGEVIZ – Plan the connections of virtual environments and practical sets
TECHVIZ – Create a plan to ensure the previz camera moves can be filmed within the restrictions of your production equipment and stage
FINAL ASSETS – The screen-ready assets needed to create the final-pixel VFX.
VP TESTS – Testing the Virtual and Practical set elements to be sure that they are performant and workable on stage.
VFX INTEGRATION – Traditional post integration of VFX with filmed elements, including compositing, rendering, camera tracking, rotoscope.
