DEFINITION September 2019

DRAMA | THE L ION K I NG

VP GUIDE

The Virtual Production Field Guide has been published by Epic Games as a timely description of what virtual production is and what it could do for your production. Epic, of course, invented the Unreal Engine as a way of improving the gameplay of that particular title. Now, as we know, game engines are being repurposed for use in the movie and television world due to their huge efficiencies in manipulating polygons and triangles. But engines are just part of the virtual production world; the guide also describes how productions using new high-resolution LED screens are eschewing green screens and having live backgrounds to quicken up takes and give actors an idea of what they’re acting against. The guide also explains the collaboration aspect of VP, with high-quality imagery being used at a much earlier stage due to the same game engine efficiencies. In the guide, you will learn about the new terms of visualisation like pitchvis – imagery created to help in-development projects earn a green light from a studio. Or virtual scouting, which presents a completely digital version of a location or a proposed set that crew members can interact with, while techvis is the combination of virtual elements with real-world equipment for the process of planning shots, as well as combining already captured footage with virtual assets. The Virtual Production Field Guide is available at unrealengine. com/en-US/feed as a pdf.

According to the director, the virtual production employed in The Lion King is an extension of what they did on The Jungle Book . Favreau and his team were able to don VR headsets and walk around within the virtual set, setting up shots, choreographing movements, and adjusting lighting, characters and set pieces in real time before sending the version of each scene to editorial. Favreau explains, “With The Lion King , we are literally putting filmmakers inside the monitor, using a set of proprietary tools interfaced with the HTC Vive virtual reality system and Unity game engine.” MAGNOPUS Ben Grossman works with Magnopus, a company that helped bring technologies, hardware and software together to create a platform for the game-engine-based virtual reality filmmaking multi-player game. “Since the advent of digital effects, filmmakers have struggled to bring those visuals to the stage to see the complete image in context,” says Grossman. “ Avatar brought a small window to the stage, allowing the filmmakers to peek inside the world they were creating. The Lion King turns that on its head by putting the filmmakers – and the gear they have used for decades – completely inside the world they are building for the film.” With The Lion King we are literally putting filmmakers inside the monitor

A world spanning hundreds of miles was constructed in the game engine. “Physical devices are custom built, and traditional cinema gear modified to allow filmmakers to ‘touch’ their equipment – cameras, cranes, dollies – while in VR to let them use the skills they’ve built up for decades on live-action sets,” adds Grossman. “They don’t have to point at a computer monitor over an operator’s shoulder any more; the most sophisticated next-gen technology is approachable to any filmmaker who’s ever been on a traditional set.” According to Favreau, the idea behind incorporating live-action language into the film was to convince audiences that what they’re seeing is authentic. “My generation – people who grew up with video games – is very sensitive to photography and shots that look like they’re entirely digital,” he says. “You can sense the difference between a visual effect that was added to a real live-action plate and one that was built entirely in a computer. How do you make it look like it was filmed? The way shots are designed when they’re digital is much more efficiently done. The camera move is planned ahead of time. The cut points, the edit points, the performance, the camera moves – all that stuff is meticulous and perfect. But that perfection leads to a feeling that it’s artificial. Not every generation

30 DEF I N I T ION | SEPTEMBER 20 1 9

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