Virtual Production in 2024

Virtual production and Volume screens go hand in hand. Volumes use recent video game graphics simulator Unreal Engine to render scalable 3D, CGI worlds in real-time, allowing actors to be immersed in that scenery while filming and for cameras to capture it all seamlessly at once. 

The virtual production workflow, including virtual location scouting, 3D environment scanning, Unreal environment building, performance motion capture, real-time rendering, on-set sequence editing, A.I. computing power, and motion-control robotics are all now accessible to independent productions through companies like Vū, as well as Versatile Media, which just released a sci-fi film “New Air'“. The production took just 10 days and was shot entirely at their Vancouver stages, and can be viewed here; https://youtu.be/oj8VLbdegNU

Thanks to an ever-growing, virtually-based industry, we are able to capture scenes in ways we’ve never been able to before.

Now, for about 1 percent of the overall budget, key creatives have the ability to imagine, plan and execute shots with immediate visualization, utilizing in-camera 3D environment rendering and performance motion capture.

Essentially, each scene is animated before it is even shot with the actors, giving filmmakers the freedom to experiment with shot angles, animation, in-frame composition and lighting, so they can make the most out of production days, while still having the ability to switch things up on the fly with the support of in-house virtual production experts who make it all possible.