VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
Adrian Pennington speaks to the experts, discovering how to create spectacular skyscapes using virtual production
© DIMENSION | DNEG 360
W hether you want to golden-hour sunset, virtual production environments can deliver convincing, meteorologically accurate (or even science-fiction fantasy) skyscapes. Getting it right means ensuring you have chosen the right content pipeline for the project. “For a beautiful generic sunset, a 2D video playback content pipeline may be best,” explains Joanna Alpe, chief commercial officer at Bild Studios and MARS Volume. “You can capture this at high resolution with a camera and play it back with agility on fly among the clouds or capture the perfect
NEW HORIZONS Unreal Engine played a key role in Masters of the Air’s VP scenes
an LED volume. If the scene calls for a more dynamic range of action, and your director needs more flexibility to control action sequences – such as planes flying across the sky and explosions occurring – 3D playback with scenes built in a real- time engine is the best tool for the job.” Recent productions such as Masters of the Air have been important in proving what’s possible. Both Bild Studios/MARS and teams at Dimension worked on the Apple TV+ drama. “For flight scenes in the sky, you have a motion base moving your set piece around,” explains George Murphy, creative director, Dimension and DNEG 360. “The environment is genuinely
surrounding the actors and filmmakers. They have the freedom to move through it and the environment reorientates to their movement. We’re able to immerse the actors and filmmakers in a world with natural reflections on surfaces, in characters’ eyes and in glass.” MASTERS OF THE VOLUME The workflow for creating skies in Masters of the Air involved integrating all available
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