Demystifying LED Virtual Production

Part 1. Demystifying Virtual Production: Benefits for locations, conditions and creative vision?

Is Virtual Production only accessible for high-budget global studio productions or can it benefit independent European producers as well? What problems Virtual Production can solve for locations and never-before-imagined storytelling? And how to look beyond the LED screen to discover what the tutorials don’t tell you?

The third session presents case studies on how Virtual Production can augment or make accessible locations that are intrinsic to the storyline, but otherwise inaccessible for the production. It will also showcase workflows and tips and tricks from VP’s core technology provider Disguise, the platform for creatives and technologists to imagine, create and deliver spectacular visual, virtual, and live experiences.

Placing community at the heart of it all, disguise works alongside the world’s most talented visual designers and technical teams in live events, TV broadcasts, film, concert touring, theatre, and fixed installations.

Louisa Bremner is a Virtual Production Supervisor who has worked on films and TV series such as “House of the Dragon”, “Matrix 4” and “Death on the Nile “. From her time at DNEG and Lux Machina, she has worked across a full range of virtual production toolsets, from virtual scouting, facial performance, mixed reality (simulcam) and in-camera VFX LED workflows. Over the last year, Louisa has been Virtual Production Supervisor for Lux Machina, working on some of the biggest Virtual Production stages in the whole of Europe, and the world. Being at the forefront of these technologies, a big part of Louisa’s passion is to work with Directors and DOPs to find the best ways of using Virtual Production technologies to enhance their experience and creatively improve workflows. She is a firm advocate of training people to use Virtual Production in their workflows, whether it is students coming into the industry, indie film developers who are looking for cost-effective solutions, or veterans who are looking for cutting-edge technology. Louisa’s background training lies between the study of traditional film and TV production and later, in real-time technology where she started developing her skills in Unreal Engine over 10 years ago, originally for developing video games. The convergence between these two professional interests in recent years due to technological advancements was unprecedented and she now applies her expertise in both areas to the domain, which we know now as virtual production.

Louisa Bremner will discuss the key points of why Virtual Production was more suitable than shooting on location and what are the benefits that the volume provided, such as control over lighting and weather conditions, as well as the ability to augment the set to suit the director's creative vision. As Virtual production offers a new way of shooting, whether it is creating fantasy worlds or recreating real-world locations that may be impractical to shoot in real life, and now, we are seeing more ways that real locations can be used in a volume. Louisa’s case study offers a look into how and when real-life locations can be used and adapted for Virtual Production. What were the decisions that led to choosing a volume over a real-life location?

Part 2. Virtual Production: What the tutorials do not tell you? Experiences from enabling world class virtual productions