DEFINITION THE VIRTUAL FRONTIER
pulling a key. You have an in-camera capture and, at the same time, this chroma capture. It gives two outputs. Cameras have been developed based around this concept over the past few years. RED Digital has some incredible cameras – their KOMODO-X and V-RAPTOR both possess a feature called Phantom Track. They’re the only cinematic cameras I’m aware of that are capable of internally overcranking. Grass Valley and Sony have both developed the ability to do this deinterleaving process internally, in their cameras. Any global shutter camera can see the green screen, but they’re not going to be capturing the in-camera VFX and the green at the same time, which is what makes it so valuable. It’s nice to be able to cater to both methods simultaneously. DEF: IMAGE-BASED LIGHTING IS A CRUCIAL ASPECT OF VP – AND OFTEN LACKS WHEN USING A GREEN SCREEN. HOW DOES CHRISTIE’S SOLUTION GET AROUND THIS? CB: The Kino Flo MIMIK light systems really make the process sing because we’re able to subliminally paint the foreground magenta and have the camera capture that, without making the talent look like purple monsters. The green colouring (from the green screen) disappears to the eye when it is combined with magenta. It cancels that out. That’s how we’re able to hide those colours so that viewers don’t perceive them, but they are still there. Cameras don’t have the limitations of the brain. It looks perfect in the production monitor.
A NEW EVOLUTION Virtual projection allows talent and crew to visualise VFX while on camera
CB: The complaint has been, and always will be, ‘I can’t perform in this green-screen environment. I don’t know what I’m looking at.’ But now, with a projection budget, you can create an immersive experience. The attention has been overwhelming. Every major motion picture studio under the sun has reached out, so that’s really exciting. And every broadcaster is saying, ‘Finally, this solves our problems – and we can afford it’. DEF: HOW DO YOU EXPECT VIRTUAL PROJECTION MIGHT
IMPACT THE VP LANDSCAPE MORE BROADLY?
CB: It’s a continuing revolution. You don’t have to worry so much any more about getting things exactly right in camera. People can focus fully on the arts of acting, performing and storytelling. That’s the most beautiful part for me, as I can tell people: ‘just focus on your craft’. ‘Fix it in post’ used to be a hated phrase, but there’s no end to what AI and machine learning can do now in terms of taking a fundamental capture and building on it, fixing it and getting it exactly how you want it to be. There are virtually infinite possibilities. In my opinion, this is going to change everyone’s approach to content creation. It’s crazy to say something like that, but this is a moment in time where all these technologies are converging into an accessible workflow. There’s no creative limit on what can be accomplished.
DEF: WHAT FEEDBACK HAS THE SOLUTION RECEIVED?
IT’S A continuing revolution – YOU DON’T HAVE TO WORRY SO MUCH ANY MORE ABOUT getting things exactly right IN CAMERA”
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