
Branded cinematic shorts and documentaries have surged in popularity as more companies strategize out-of-the-box ways to connect and engage with audiences. While these projects benefit from higher-end technology, they often come with tighter budgets and same-day turnaround expectations. To address these challenges, Masterwork Films CEO Biro Florin built a green screen virtual production studio in the heart of Brighton, England. It houses all the equipment to streamline and accelerate production on branded storytelling projects, including a workstation running Epic Games' Unreal Engine, an AJA ColorBox for color management, and AJA GEN10 for sync gen, among other equipment.
Fusing technological expertise with a passion for creativity
Channeling a passion for filmmaking, cinematography, and gear, Biro established Masterwork Films in 2024. Today, he runs the company and acts as DP (Director of Photography) on client shoots for branded storytelling, film, commercial, and masterclass projects. In addition to servicing clients in the UK, US, and Canada, Biro and team run a green screen virtual production studio and a kit rental business.
Biro sees green screen virtual production unlocking new doors for brands looking to deliver believable compositions quickly and affordably. He explained, Virtual production can prove costly if you're building sets and virtual worlds from scratch, which is why we try to strike that middle ground with our new studio, where we can get a nice output with stock and marketplace type assets. Another big benefit of executing green screen virtual production, especially with a tool like AJA ColorBox, is that it minimizes post production work so we can reduce costs and production times for our clients all around.
Envisioning a green screen virtual production studio
Recently launched, Masterwork's u-shaped green screen stage is six meters wide and three and a half meters deep. It features up to 3 cameras that send a REDWideGamutRGB (Log) SDI signal of the talent and the green screen to its keyer while a PC sends another SDI signal transporting the Unreal Engine virtual camera feed that also uses REDWideGamutRGB (Log). The keyer receives the camera signal as the foreground feed and keys out a flat-looking green backdrop, leaving an alpha foreground layer of the talent. The same keyer also receives the Unreal Engine SDI signal as the background feed and applies it as the background layer of the foreground keyed talent.
Given both foreground and background signals are REDWideGamutRGB, the composited image on the keyer has the same flat look. Biro's team sends that flat video signal via SDI to an AJA ColorBox and uses Assimilate Live Looks to color correct and grade it. They then send the graded output to director and talent confident monitors using the ColorBox SDI output, and the loop out to a focus puller and for low-latency critical tasks.
Whether on a virtual production or traditional set, there's something magical about being able to use a device like ColorBox to upload a LUT and get a rough view of how things will look, plus have the control to tweak the color and contrast in real time. It gives you an extra layer of confidence as you light the scene and confirm that you structured it the right way, he explained. I also love that ColorBox is integrated with so many great color grading and correction tools to support live grading on set and that I can easily export changes to a LUT or a grade and send them down the pipeline in post to editors and colorists; it's very useful.
ColorBox, Biro said, also saves the team time because they're able to do everything on the computer without having to process the 4:2:2 10-bit signal they're shooting; it receives the feed and outputs the exact same signal with its LUT. And Biro's team can do an SDI loop out or pass through, so he can send a signal from the ColorBox to two recorders one with the color grading and the original signal as it comes out of the compositing server.
In addition to ColorBox, Masterwork Films uses an AJA GEN10 sync gen generator because its cameras and lens trackers have genlock and SDI reference inputs. Biro explained, Prior to GEN10, the background would stutter when we'd move the cameras. I quickly found that we needed a device to synchronize all these devices doing genlock, so I installed GEN10, and the stuttering disappeared; it's been amazing.
Laying a solid foundation for the future
Biro anticipates client demand for more distinctive backdrops for brand videos will only continue to grow, which is partially why he created the studio. We saw this new studio as a solution to help diversify the look and feel of projects, especially for our more consistent clients, without it costing an arm and a leg like most LED studios do, he added. So far, they like the variety of options we can offer at an affordable price point, as there aren't many non-LED options in the south of the UK.
For the time being, as Biro continues to grow the business, he's keeping an eye on AI developments related to virtual production, game development, and motion tracking. He concluded, We're heading into a very disruptive world, especially with the advent of generative AI. Virtual production presents an opportunity where AI, green screen, and motion tracking developments can converge to truly reshape how we create content. As we experience this shift and take on more new clients, it's very possible we may start taking more of our studio equipment, like ColorBox, on location, as I could see it being useful for real time visualization of color grading and correction on projects outside our studio.
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
22/07/2026
Among other tweaks to coverage, the broadcaster added announce positions in the ...
22/07/2026
The Australian Sports Technologies Network (ASTN) has reported a sharp acceleration in Australia's sportstech sector, with revenue growth rising from 10% in...
22/07/2026
From a retrofitted broadcast bus to packed Match Day Live! events, Bennett detai...
22/07/2026
TMRW Sports has named Brendan Donohue as President, Flag Football, where he will lead the company's professional flag football business in partnership with ...
22/07/2026
Stephen Arnold Music (SAM) designed and produced soundtracks for nine projection...
22/07/2026
Harmonic has announced a $25,000 donation to Global Empowerment Mission (GEM) fo...
22/07/2026
Telemundo has announced it has acquired from UC3 exclusive U.S. Spanish-language...
22/07/2026
The Rest Is Football, hosted by Gary Lineker, Alan Shearer, and Micah Richards, ...
22/07/2026
Sports Studio has announced a partnership with TheSoul Group to distribute Free ...
22/07/2026
Daktronics has concluded its 2026 High School Video Summit, a two-day hybrid event combining virtual sessions with hands-on host school visits across the countr...
22/07/2026
FOR-A America will exhibit at the MMCA Show in Pensacola, Florida (July 21-24), marking the company's first appearance at the house of worship AV event. FOR...
22/07/2026
The New York Yankees have selected Lumen Technologies (NYSE: LUMN) to connect Ya...
22/07/2026
Calrec will exhibit at IBC 2026 (Stand 8.C47) with demonstrations of its IP-native audio ecosystem built around the Argo console range, and will announce two ne...
22/07/2026
Solid State Logic has announced the appointment of Algam EKO as its distributor for SSL large format consoles in Italy, covering the Live, Broadcast, and Studio...
22/07/2026
FloSports has announced the launch of the FloSports Channel, a free ad-supported streaming channel premiering on Prime Video in the U.S. on July 21. The channel...
22/07/2026
Banana Ball TV (BTV), the broadcast operation of the Savannah Bananas, has insta...
22/07/2026
SiriusXM and Audacy have announced an agreement bringing 42 Audacy sports, news, and talk stations from 29 U.S. markets to SiriusXM. Twenty-three Audacy sports ...
22/07/2026
The collaboration produced more than 500 short-form videos across four cities th...
22/07/2026
At 2,600 sq. ft., the new home of digital content houses a main studio, podcast space, and an auxiliary control room
NFL franchises are accelerating their prod...
22/07/2026
Library now available in Engine Player
Another of Eduardo Tarilonte's popular sample libraries has just been moved over to Engine Audio's Engine Pla...
22/07/2026
All-in-one mic & DSP interface overhauled
Cloudvocal have just refreshed the design of their all-in-one mic, audio interface and DSP processor, introducing ...
22/07/2026
The final boss of the lost dual-op-amp circuit
Electro-Harmonix have just introduced the Deluxe Big Muff Pi 2, which they say offers their latest take on t...
22/07/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Proven managed IP solution helps broadcasters confidently navigate the future of broadcast distribution
LTN announces it has completed successful satellite-to-...
22/07/2026
Today, Chaos announced V-Ray 7, update 4, eliminating the need for asset conversions and tool switching, which slow down media and entertainment pipelines. Arti...
22/07/2026
An AI playground for the Project Indigo camera app
Marc Levoy July 22, 2026
0 Comments
At left is the user interface of our Playground, running on an ...
22/07/2026
Custom Consoles announces the completion of a large technical furniture project for Radio T l vision Suisse (RTS) at the networks recently inaugurated productio...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
22/07/2026
Culver City, CA, July 21, 2026 3D streaming infrastructure provider Miris today announced glTF intake, including the binary .glb form, to its spatial streamin...
22/07/2026
Documentary Lo Invisible Captured with Blackmagic PYXIS 6K
Brie Clayton July 21, 2026
0 Comments
Camera's versatile design allowed filmmakers to c...
22/07/2026
AAF Bridge converts AAF and XML Timelines to Ableton Live - and back
Jerome Gardier July 21, 2026
0 Comments
A two-way converter for macOS and Windows...
22/07/2026
From Class to Concert: Explore a Student-Led Production of David Bowies Work Thr...
22/07/2026
A poisoned spy, a secret war, and a small English city contaminated by a deadly chemical weapon. Available on Sky Documentaries from 4 AugustWednesday 22 July 2...
22/07/2026
Audio at Parity: Comscore Launches Transcript-Level Targeting and Measurement wi...
22/07/2026
Arvato Systems and Lobster Enter into a Partnership and Combine the Integration Platform and Managed Services
Flexible integration solutions for cloud, hybrid...
22/07/2026
RT REPORTS NET SURPLUS OF 22.5 MILLION IN 2025...
22/07/2026
In the Opinion of the Censor airs Monday 27 July at 9.35pm on RT One and RT Player
In the Opinion of the Censor looks at how films for theatrical release wer...
22/07/2026
Before a healthcare robot can be useful in the real world, it has to learn how the physical world pushes back. Anatomy varies. Instruments bend, press, slip and...
21/07/2026
New research involving a cross-section of Mongolias independent media landscape finds enthusiasm for AI as a tool to improve efficiency, sustainability and resi...
21/07/2026
With winners Spain having already paraded the World Cup trophy through Madrid in front of millions of fans and the dust now settling on an epic tournament of th...
21/07/2026
In a time of disarray in regional sports broadcasting, the league will provide c...