VIRTUAL PRODUCTION. TRAINING
Pump up the volume
Brompton Technology has participated in initiatives by ScreenSkills to offer training on its LED processing, as part of larger courses on VP for film. Rob Fowler, Brompton’s director of business development, says there are very few practitioners with hands- on experience at present. As more volumes are built, the pipeline of skilled practitioners needs to grow. “The skills shortage in virtual production exists for several reasons. But chiefly, it’s the speed at which in-camera visual effects (ICVFX) with LED is growing,” Fowler adds. “Firstly, we are talking about some brand-new technologies – or if not entirely new, then new to filmmaking.” He explains that, while a sophisticated, feature-dense product might be easy to use, ‘it’s possible to miss some of the interesting, helpful features on the system’ if practitioners can’t access training readily. “The difference between something that looks good, but unrealistic, next to something genuinely convincing on-camera is very fine. Practitioners need all the tools at their disposal,” he continues. “We’ve put many hours into providing those tools, so making sure people know how to take advantage of them is in our interests, too.” While Brompton has always tried to deliver as much direct training as possible, Fowler says the company is ‘keen to work with anyone addressing these gaps’.
BIG RIG Dark Matters has a sophisticated, fully functioning VP set-up in its northern France studio
“While the technology has matured and demand has grown, the talent pool needed to drive the industry forward has not”
“That’s why, as a DOP, I felt it was my place to learn about VP,” he continues. “Right now, VP people coming from VFX want VFX-background technicians only. I’m not sure it’s the answer; the film industry needs those who can find solutions outside the box, understand our tools and ways of crafting our art.” Jorquera adds that there’s a need for workers trained both to be on-set, with a knowledge of filming practices, as well as a ‘geek’ spirit – a passion for hardware and software, video game engines and coding. He sees it more as a fusion of two different industries: film and gaming. As far as Christina Nowak, director of VP at Anna Valley, is concerned, the skills shortage exists for many reasons. “With VP shoots specifically, there’s a dearth of expertise. It’s still a world of emerging technology and techniques,” she says. “In order to be creative, you need the technical mindset to drive it. These roles are relatively new in virtual production, given its application is still only a few years old, and until there is sufficient talent, we will need to outsource from other industries like gaming and live events, to bridge that gap.” Thankfully, a number of companies are taking action – the NFTS has been pioneering VP training initiatives for the last two years. “As part of its collaboration with Royal Holloway, University of London on the StoryFutures Academy programme, we have delivered a range of freely available training opportunities aimed at upskilling the UK’s creative
traditional film studio. Based in Tigery, just south of Paris, it houses around 160,000 sq ft of indoor facilities and a fully fledged VP offering – previs/techvis, LED volumes and other ICVFX solutions. The late Margaux Durand-Rival, the company’s then head of creative, said hiring an in-house DOP could bring a lot of benefits to the company’s visualisation department. In came Quentin Jorquera, who found out about the job from Dark Matters CEO, Romain Cheminade. Jorquera says that, while Covid-19 has ‘obviously increased demand’ for VP, there’s less aversion to it because the tech is finally ready. “We’ve been using clunky versions of all the current VP and ICVFX tools for years,” he explains. “But we have finally reached real-time rendering that appears believable in-camera – presenting high-poly CGI elements in AR with only two frames of delay, straight from the operator’s viewfinder.” Carina Schoo, education program manager at Pixotope, concurs. “With countless top productions demonstrating the possibilities, we’ve seen a huge uptick in demand for VP,” she says. “But while the technology has matured and demand has grown, the talent pool needed to drive the industry forward has not.” SOLVING THE PROBLEM People with Jorquera’s skill set aren’t ubiquitous. He thinks it’s because VP requires a mix of rare competencies: knowledge of the VFX pipeline, but also its on-set uses and customs.
FLY ON THE WALL VP training on the Brompton Technology-powered Mars LED volume (above)
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