Too Much Volume? The Tech Behind ‘Mandalorian And ‘House Of The Dragon Faces Growing Pains
Ever since Disney+'s The Mandalorian started making headlines for its creative use of an LED stage and virtual production to capture and insert effects in real time, it could win an Emmy for visual effects and cinematography, as well as ' n 2022 Engineers Emmy of the year. Industrial Light & Magic received an award for system development; These types of scenes are perhaps the fastest growing area of visual effects and production technology. But amid the LED stage boom, observers warn that the business, technology and creative patterns of these expensive installations require more understanding before their full potential can be realized.
"We're seeing about 300 scenes, up from three in 2019," said Miles Perkins, director of film and television at Epic Games, creator of the Unreal Engine used in the virtual production pipeline, citing investments from studios, stage crews and brands. visual effects. .
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These installations include ILM StageCraft volumes at Manhattan Beach Studios used in The Mandalorian and the upcoming Lucasfilm film Ahsoka . Marvel used a custom StageCraft building in Sydney for Thor: Love and Thunder and relied heavily on the ILM system at Pinewood Studios in London for Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania . The LED stage from Pixomondo, a visual effects company based in Toronto, is on a long-term lease from CBS and was used in the fourth and fifth seasons of Star Trek: Discovery . And recently, Prysm Stages, a company of NEP Virtual Studios, opened its first stage at Trilith Studios in Atlanta as the first production of Francis Ford Coppola's Metropolis . Meanwhile, Lux Machina NEP reports that its virtual production includes Sony's bullet train , which last summer at Warner Bros. Shazam: Wrath of the Gods in March.
But with many stakeholders touting promising virtual production steps, others fear there are too many on the market today, especially with increasing demand for traditional steps. "It was a big learning curve and I think sometimes it worked really well and sometimes it didn't," says Claire Kilner, director of HBO's Dragon House . "It's especially suitable for endless sunrises and sunsets, for example." The London-based Warner Bros. The virtual production space at Leavesden Studios, which opened in 2021 and was used in Dragon , is already closing, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
“Due to the high demand for studio space, the virtual stage at Warner Bros. Leavesden Studios will return to the traditional stage to offer more flexibility to our customers,” said a Warners spokesperson. "Manufacturing will continue to be able to use virtual manufacturing technologies as needed."
Oscar-winning visual effects artist Ben Grossman, whose company Magnopus was instrumental in developing virtual workflows for The Jungle Book and Jon Favreau 's The Lion King , estimates the cost of setting up an LED stage for a virtual production create between 3 and 30 million dollars. . . The size and design of the LED wall - AC and power, wall weight support, additional lighting and camera detection technology, etc. - the script must be adapted for this use. Additionally, content projected onto LED walls can be the most expensive element of the process; These complex, full CG environments can require four to six months of work for VFX artists. "You can start spending money on content very, very quickly," Grossman said.
As with any new technology, there are early adopters and wary ones. "That's not all," says director-producer Jay Holben, who recently directed an experimental short film (known as Standard Score 2) for the Society of Cinematographers that included virtual location and production on an LED stage. He sees great potential in this process, but notes that some parts, including color and lighting, still need to be finalized. "Modern LEDs don't have a color spectrum," he cited as an example. "It's changing, but it's not on the market yet."
"A lot of people think they just turn on the camera and shoot," says Holben. "But if the light is wrong and the color balance is wrong... these things can look really bad."
"I think LED stadiums are redundant today because everyone wants them, but they haven't become useful enough," says Grossman. "In the long term, I believe the industry will bridge the gap between understanding and budget considerations to enable higher levels of use."
One source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said bluntly: “[Some shows] have become huge hits; others were bloodbaths because people were not ready."
For early adopters, LED stages can help keep costs, schedules and production complexities in check compared to outdoor events, and provide a sandbox for creative experimentation. But overusing technology can have its downsides, and it's important to understand how and when to use it.
The Lucasfilm series The Book of Boba Fett and Obi-Wan Kenobi , both of which used extensive technology, drew criticism in some circles of the fan community for being too reliant on technology, unlike the last Star Wars show. Andorra , mostly filmed on location.
Holben said: “Being in place and in the environment is still very valuable. There is nothing better than being in a real canyon or going to Ireland and being in a real castle. When you are in a position, when you are in a practical position, there are many possibilities.
Cinematographer Greig Fraser, who won this year's Oscar for Denis Villeneuve's Dune and used LED scenes in The Mandalorian season 1 and part of The Batman , says virtual scenes “have nothing to argue with. Good daylight or afternoon sun." .", but he cites the sunrise and sunset scenes in The Batman as examples of the usefulness of these phases.
© Provided by The Hollywood Reporter. "Batman" was filmed during the virtual production phase .From a creative point of view, he says: "If you have something happening at dawn or dusk - which we did in Batman at a construction site overlooking Gotham - then it works really well because you're dealing with Batman . , it was very cool, because they were long scenes, and usually when you want to shoot something at sunrise or sunset, you really have very little time.
"There's a tendency to think that [LED] volume solves all the logistical problems of filming on location," adds Fraser. "If people do not understand what is good and what is bad, the danger is that they tend to exaggerate what should not be there. And if you look at it, it's not quite right, which can defame the virtual photo."
According to the sources, a virtual production must start with advance planning - taking into account factors such as planning, budget and creativity - and include several departments, including virtual art. "We offer cost analysis," said Janet Levin, Lucasfilm's senior vice president of visual effects and ILM's general manager. "Metrics that people can come up with on their own have been a challenge."
To promote the understanding and use of these techniques, Epic Games created the Unreal Fellowship, a 30-day virtual production course that has trained nearly 2,000 professionals since it was launched nearly two years ago. Participants apply for a place, and those accepted receive $10,000 to complete the Epic course. Epic's educational efforts also included collaborations with the Motion Picture Society of America and the Art Directors Guild.
While many use the term "virtual production" as a synonym for the LED stage, the former has a broader meaning, including areas such as preview and performance capture. Highlights include Favreau's production of The Lion King , which allowed filmmakers to explore and experience African locations in CGI while wearing virtual reality goggles. Many attribute the beginning of what is now considered a virtual production to the creation of Avatar by James Cameron in 2009.
In an effort to help filmmakers use a common vocabulary, the Visual Effects Society launched an online virtual production glossary earlier this year. Here, virtual manufacturing is defined as “a method that uses technology to merge the digital and physical worlds in real time. It allows filmmakers to interact with the digital process in the same way they interact with live production.”
This definition seems to give an idea of what the future of entertainment might look like. "We see virtual production as a bridge to making film and TV content more suitable for the metaverse or immersive experience that immerses viewers in that experience," says Magnopus' Grossman. directors and crew on set are surrounded by LED walls, then we can take the content and show it to viewers in their homes through a virtual reality headset.”
Epic Games' Perkins adds, "Once a team iterates and completes an asset, they can use it across all mediums: linear content, experiential content, games, live streaming, and more. With a real-time game engine like Unreal , everything is so easy to convey." In it, there is no longer a distinction between the needs of linear results and experience delivery. This means that virtual production itself is preparing us for a new era of entertainment. ."
James Hibberd and Alex Rittman reported.
A version of this story first appeared in the Oct. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to register .
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