Dispelling the feat factor of working with virtual production
05/05/2022
By Jenny Priestley
Published: May 5, 2022
TVBEurope talks to Pixomondo's Alex Webster about the company's plans for London, why producers are still not sure about virtual production, and why technology is a creative endeavour in its own right
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
The past couple of years has seen an explosion of interest in virtual production. Thanks to projects such as The Mandalorian and The Batman, more and more producers of content ranging from commercials to feature films are looking at using the new technology.
In the UK and Europe, this increase in interest is also driving the development of new studio facilities. Among the companies looking to open their own Volume stage in London is Pixomondo, which already has virtual production stages in both Toronto, used by Star Trek: Discovery, and Vancouver in Canada.
Last year Pixomondo brought Alex Webster on board to oversee its new London operation. As well as working on the virtual stage, the London team has recently added previs to its list of creative services.
Since we launched we've kind of been running three streams in parallel, Webster tells TVBEurope. One of which is the traditional pre-production stuff, so Maya-based previs and techvis, and that allows us to visualise and plan those kinds of projects.
At the same time, we're developing a similar pipeline toolset using Unreal Engine to be able to really blend the agile virtual production tools such as virtual scouting, virtual camera, motion capture, performance capture photogrammetry all into a previs pipeline so that we can make that process interactive, and leverage everything which is great about Unreal 5. Our third stream is the planning, building, implementation and then operation of our first LED Volume, which mirrors what has been established as the foundation of our model in Toronto and Vancouver where we've got three volumes, and my remit is to set up our first one in London.
Having joined the company as the sole London staff member, Webster has now grown the company to 15 with a core team of supervisors, lead artists, pipeline TDs, IT administrators etc, that he says represent the very best of the London industry. I've been able to pull together this fantastic team spearheaded by Matt Perrin, who is a very experienced previs supervisor who I've worked with previously at Framestore, and he comes with decade's worth of experience working with Marvel and Disney.
Alex Webster There's a very thin but highly skilled group of practitioners in London who are exceptional at what they do, and then there's quite a vacuum underneath that, he continues. We've been fortunate in that we've been able to recruit some very skilled, talented people with credible experience of having worked in virtual production on meaningful projects and are adept when it comes to working in Unreal Engine specifically. What we're seeing as well is there's a huge level of interest from the next generation of young artists coming through, who are motivated and want to get into virtual production. They're learning Unreal because it's so democratic, and there isn't a barrier to entry. It's free software, which is extraordinary, really.
Webster says he was determined not to launch the new previs services until the London team had a robust enough toolset and pipeline to be able to meet clients' expectations. Over the last four or five months or so our supervisors have been working with our pipeline team to develop a toolset which we have proven over that time, he explains. They've been taking dummy projects and running them through a process to see where the pain points are and make sure that it can deliver.
We've got this rare opportunity where we are starting something essentially from scratch at a point where technology is evolving at a pace unlike anything before, with new iterations of Unreal Engine being released every year. It's allowing us to take almost an umbrella look at the way that the industry is headed, the importance and the role of game engine technology in the filmmaking process, and to design a pipeline toolset which is really future focused and really pushing the interactive elements of that.
While the interest in virtual production continues to grow, Webster warns there's still a relatively small uptake for the technology because there's a fear factor involved and still something of a resistance, he says. Unless it's foundational in your thinking as to how you're going to approach a project and you're kind of building your schedule and methodology and crew around how to best leverage virtual production, what you often find is that the conversation starts too late in the production process, so a show will be up and running and in pre-production and they'll have just to brought a visual VFX supervisor on board and at that point production might want to start looking at a Volume shoot for a couple of sequences, which really comes too late in the in the process.
Instead, Webster believes virtual production should be considered at a production's inception so that the virtual production team can work alongside production design and the camera unit right from the outset, which leads to something incredibly powerful, he states.
From my own experience, having being on set and seeing the the qualitative aspects of virtual production, for actors to be able to shoot in context of an environment, for a director to be able to see the actors in context of the background and not against a green screen and for an
LINK: | https://www.tvbeurope.com/production-post/dispelling-the-feat-factor-o... |
See more stories from tvb |
More from TVB Europe
19/04/2024
How 1185 Films created the VFX on new horror, All You Need Is Death
Simon Wilkinson, head of VFX at 1185 films, talks about the technology behind the newly-released horror By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 19, 2024 Simo...
19/04/2024
Could Sony be preparing a bid for Channel 5's parent company?
The global electronics company is said to be considering joining forces with investment firm Apollo Management to bid for Paramount Global By Jenny Priestley ...
19/04/2024
EBU report highlights contribution of free-to-air sport broadcasting
The report broke the economic footprint of EBU member sports broadcasting into three main areas By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 19, 2024 The report b...
18/04/2024
How today's storage and memory decisions underpin future creativity
Ann Keefe, Regional Director - UK and Ireland at Kingston Technology, explains how storage and memory decisions made now are underpinning creativity in the futu...
18/04/2024
Escape Studios obtains UKVI licence to support international students
The newly acquired UKVI licence enables Escape Studios to recruit and retain international students By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 18, 2024 Updated: ...
18/04/2024
NAB 2024 popular among first time visitors
Attendees from more than 163 countries were present, including 34 delegation buying groups from around the world By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 18, 202...
17/04/2024
Colorfront showcases upgrades across product range
Colorfront has introduced AI vision-analysis tools to assist master QC operations with detecting framing anomalies, dead pixels, bright titles and sparkles By ...
17/04/2024
Meet the Founder and director
By TVBEurope Staff Published: April 17, 2024 Updated: April 18, 2024 Rory Springthorpe, founder and director at outside broadcasting company Vivid Broadc...
16/04/2024
Adobe previews generative AI tools to streamline professional video workflows
New generative AI tools will enable users of Adobe Premiere Pro to streamline editing all videos, including adding or removing objects in a scene or extending a...
16/04/2024
Atomos appoints Daniel Moore as new chief technical officer
Moore has led the development effort for over 20 products in the AV space By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 16, 2024 Moore has led the development effo...
16/04/2024
UNIT deliver picture post and colour grade for new BBC1 drama series
Coles enhanced colour separation, adding shape and depth to the characters through the use of a soft highlight and shadow roll off, and embracing the natural te...
15/04/2024
SiliconCore adds to XR range with new 1.2mm XR LED Display
SiliconCores patented Common Cathode driver chip delivers frame rates of 240 Hz and a refresh rate of 7680Hz, enabling slow motion, multi-camera view and multip...
15/04/2024
Naphtali Cave joins MOOV
The UK-based virtual studio, sports and events graphics company has appointed Naphtali Cave into a newly created role to drive technical innovation and creativi...
13/04/2024
Blackmagic Design unveils game-changer' URSA Cine 12K
The company has also unveiled DaVinci Resolve 19, which adds new AI tools, as well as over 100 feature upgrades By Jenny Priestley Published: April 13, 2024 ...
12/04/2024
Filming in extreme conditions: Mammals production team reveal all
Producer/directors Stuart Armstrong and Will Lawson detail the specialist cameras used to capture the footage for the series Dark and Cold episodes By Matthew ...
12/04/2024
Cinedeck partners with Paramount to create MTV integrated delivery platform
Cinedecks new ConneX Hub master tool leverages Adobe Frame.io and the companys ConneX products By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 12, 2024 Cinedeck'...
12/04/2024
Nikon completes acquisition of RED
The acquisition aims to enable the development of distinctive products, while leveraging the business foundations of both Nikon and Red By Matthew Corrigan P...
12/04/2024
Alison Pavitt joins Blue Lucy
She joins joins Blue Lucy after a number of years at Pebble By Jenny Priestley Published: April 12, 2024 Updated: April 15, 2024 She joins joins Blue Lu...
11/04/2024
Setting a new standard for storage
EditShare's new EFS NVMe storage solution allows creative professionals to deliver their 4K and 8K projects with unprecedented levels of performance and thr...
11/04/2024
It took 20 years to get here': Filmlight debuts media access tool
Nara can natively decode and playback a wide selection of media without the need to transcode to proxy files By Jenny Priestley Published: April 11, 2024 U...
11/04/2024
UK MPs call for freelancers' commissioner for creative industry
The Committee has recommended the establishment of a cross-departmental Freelancers Commissioner By Matthew Corrigan Published: April 11, 2024 Updated: Apr...
11/04/2024
Preserving TV's technological heritage
Jenny Priestley meets a group of enthusiasts who are working to preserve TV technology from across the decades, including cameras, OB trucks and telecine machin...
11/04/2024
Rise Academy announces new leadership, London Summer School to return
Andy Beale, Lisa Collins and Jackie Howes will lead the charity By Jenny Priestley Published: April 11, 2024 Andy Beale, Lisa Collins and Jackie Howes wil...
11/04/2024
Editor's choice: Ten things to look out for at 2024 NAB Show
From artificial intelligence and an autonomously AI-powered humanoid robot, to an immersive golf experience and our first proper look at Sphere, this is whats o...
10/04/2024
VFX house UNIT moves into new London home
UNIT will now have numerous VFX suites housing Flame, Flame Assist, Nuke and Nuke Studio, while the lower ground floor will house MCR, QC and Open Studio workin...
09/04/2024
Workflow solutions provider ERA expands into London
The office is equipped to embrace a hybrid way of working so teams can collaborate no matter where they are based, added the company By Jenny Priestley Publi...
09/04/2024
Limecraft and OOONA form AI subtitling partnership
The collaboration aims to provide content producers with streamlined subtitling processes through the use of AI and automation, enabling them to extend the reac...
09/04/2024
Harmonic concludes current market conditions' do not support video business sale
The company has also announced the appointment of Nimrod Ben-Natan as CEO, effec...
08/04/2024
Santiago Solanas announced as new Dalet CEO
Following a 30 year career at technology firms including Sage, Oracle, Cisco, IBM and Microsoft, Santiago Solanas replaces departing CEO, Carl Farrell, who will...
08/04/2024
Grass Valley highlights innovation at NAB Show
The technology provider for the live media and entertainment industry is marking its 65th anniversary with a cluster of breakthrough camera and switcher enhance...
08/04/2024
TVBEurope April 2024 issue out now
With a busy calendar of sport plus elections in both the UK and US ahead, the April issue focuses on the latest advances in live production. We meet the sound d...
08/04/2024
Opinion: Why trade shows can and must evolve
#GalsNGear founder Amy DeLouise explains how media technology trade shows can take intentional steps to fully reflect the full diversity of people who are part ...
08/04/2024
New London office for Advanced Systems Group
Opening in May and located in Aviation House, in Londons Holborn district, the new ASG UK headquarters will have the flexibility to adapt to future expansion B...
05/04/2024
Administrators appointed to Winnersh Film Studios Limited
A release says the other legal entities within the Stage 50 group are not currently in administration and continue to trade as normal By Kevin Emmott Publish...
04/04/2024
Ripley: The Sounds of Silence
Theres a lot going on in the darkness. Kevin Emmott meets sound mixer Maurizio Argentieri to find out why it was so important to amplify the silence in the Netf...
04/04/2024
VVC delivers less pain for the grain
The Media Coding Industry Forum is exploring ways to develop end-to-end film-grain management for modern digital environments By Kevin Emmott Published: Apri...
04/04/2024
IBC announces this year's Accelerator Programme
More than 180 organisations have participated in the Accelerator Programme since 2019, and it has delivered POCs for 35 projects By Kevin Emmott Published: A...
04/04/2024
New CEO announced at Viaccess-Orca
Kohler has over 20 years of international experience in senior management roles at Orange By Kevin Emmott Published: April 4, 2024 Kohler has over 20 year...
03/04/2024
Avid appoints Wellford Dillard as CEO
With more than 20 years of experience in the software industry, Dillard was previously CEO of marketing SaaS provider Marigold By Kevin Emmott Published: Apr...
02/04/2024
Changes at the top of the DPP
The DPP has transferred the role of CEO from Mark Harrison to Rowan de Pomerai, with Harrison taking the role of founder and chief content officer By Kevin Emm...
02/04/2024
Premier Sports to relaunch in the UK on April 9
Premier Sports will include coverage of the Scottish Cup, Scottish League Cup, International football fixtures, LALIGA, and more By Kevin Emmott Published: A...
28/03/2024
The 4K cameras giving audiences an astronaut's view of Earth
TVBEurope meets Charles Black, founder and CEO of Sen, which has sent a payload of 4K cameras to the ISS to livestream images of Earth to audiences around the w...
27/03/2024
I knew there were cameras, lighting, some buttons and microphones involved': How Crew Room Academy is inspiring the next generation
TVBEurope hears from some of the students who took part in Crew Room Academys Sc...
27/03/2024
Adobe reveals Gen AI solutions for content supply chain
Elsewhere, Adobe revealed a new feature in Adobe Firefly, which uses the companys generative AI to easily apply the structure of an existing image to newly gene...
27/03/2024
Best of Show Awards for 2024 NAB Show entries close soon
The awards, from industry-leading brands of Future plc, provide a great opportunity for companies to stand out at one the most attended shows in the industry B...
27/03/2024
Meet the director of IT and operations
By TVBEurope Staff Published: March 27, 2024 Updated: March 28, 2024 CueScript's director of IT and operations, Meghan Tyler, tells TVBEurope about h...
26/03/2024
Crown Works Studios moves forward following council approval
The studios are expected to be one of the largest in Europe, with 20 premium sound stages suitable for major feature film and high-end TV (HETV) productions By...
25/03/2024
Blackbird adds indexing and AI auto sequencing to video editing platform
Twelve Labs AI will enable editors to locate specific storytelling moments within their video content using natural language, said the companies By Jenny Pries...
25/03/2024
Meet the director of strategic marketing
By TVBEurope Staff Published: March 25, 2024 Updated: March 26, 2024 Bruno Fran on, director of strategic marketing at Backlight, talks to TVBEurope abou...
22/03/2024
Grass Valley secures $220 million in strategic refinancing
The company said it intends to accelerate innovation across its entire portfolio, most notably in the AMPP ecosystem following the refinancing By Jenny Priestl...