ROUND TABLE
JL: With ICVFX and scouting applications of virtual production, filmmakers need to make decisions earlier in the process than in traditional methods. Particularly for ICVFX, the environment needs to be as close to final as possible by shoot day. Like any traditional production, the more planning and early decisions that are made the better, to get the best results. Just because it is real-time doesn’t mean everything can be done instantly, but certain things are possible to do in the moment. It’s a relatively new tool, and departments need to know how it can interact with their existing tools to get full benefits. Def: How has virtual production affected the collaborative process among filmmakers, and what new dynamics have emerged? CC: This is the really interesting part. Now more than ever, everybody has to communicate, and to agree on what’s going to be done. It’s led to closer collaboration between the camera person, the lighting person, the media server person and so on – because the way you use your lighting is going to
– everybody is going to the next step, thinking: now we have it working, how do we make it better? How do we make it easier? The learning curve is steep – and this is a challenge. You need to know about cameras, media servers, LED processing, trackers, Unreal, real-time engines – so making it easier is one of the main things. Brompton focuses on making it easier, through having tools that are going to make the LED panel look good on camera – without any artefacts, banding or changes in colour – which is important. Also, our TrueLight makes a merge of the real world and the virtual world a lot easier, as the light is dynamic, and it’s calibrated with the same source; so everything’s a little easier to prepare. Right now, the learning curve is steep, but that will begin to get better over time. DL: Once the opportunities that virtual production offers across pre-, on-set and post-production are understood, productions can identify if and where it may add value, and whether virtual production is right for them. Education is helping demystify, which will then improve confidence.
affect the way the LED will look, and the way you’re setting up your camera is going to affect both. DL: The most successful virtual production projects are where the collaboration starts from the very beginning of the planning process. Getting HODs together from each part of the ‘traditional’ departments from the outset means that there is a clear understanding of how virtual production can enable and benefit the project. For example, techvis or previs of virtual environments populated with ARRI’s digital camera and lighting twins can be used to work shooting positions and configurations for the physical set, which is then used to make informed decisions during the physical production. We have developed workflows, which take the metadata gathered during physical productions to ensure what the DOP signs off on is then accurately represented in the final edit. MC: Virtual production has added new elements into the equation, but, at the end of the day, it will require a closer collaboration of all people involved in
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