Transforming Cinema With Virtual Production

Imagine the following scenario: You바카라�re a filmmaker who has to shoot a complicated action sequence in a remote jungle with a big movie star. Normally, you바카라�d travel to such a location with your crew, spend money on stay and travel, and worry about other logistical hassles that accompany shooting on locations. But now, with a technology like virtual production, you don바카라�t have to. A technology that바카라�ll not just change how films are made but also conceptualised. But before I get into its intricacies, let me first tell you how it all began.

Digital technology made filmmaking affordable and accessible. Before digital, only a certain kind of movie would even get distribution바카라�or a theatrical release. But now that바카라�s no longer the case: if you바카라�ve made a solid film, you can get it out there. Around 2016, LEDs and movies started to intersect. We, at Qube Cinema바카라�a firm providing end-to-end digital cinema technology and solutions바카라�began building LED cinema systems, deviating from our previous focus on projectors. During that process, we noticed that LEDs had marked their presence in production. That intrigued us, the opportunity to get into production technology. Besides, over the last five years, the quality of LEDs has improved by leaps. So, when you바카라�ve a high-quality and large image on an LED wall, you can place actors and props in front of it to create a seamless blend when viewed through the camera. The audience should look at it and feel that it바카라�s real and authentic바카라�and not something powered by an LED.

We, at Qube Cinema, are essentially cinephiles, folks who love storytelling. We even made and produced a few movies, such as the bilingual drama 180, the Carnatic concert film Margazhi Raagam (featuring T M Krishna and Bombay Jayashri), and a unique musical concert, One (collaborating, again, with Krishna). These creative pieces intended to illustrate our key goals: improving quality, maintaining accessibility, and proving that something pioneering can be achieved.

Embracing virtual production is part of that goal. But that바카라�s in the realm of image-making, what about filmmaking? Because even if the LED panel successfully reproduces a photorealistic image, the illusion breaks if the camera moves. That doesn바카라�t happen in virtual production though because, among other things, it incorporates the parallax effect. If you바카라�ve ever travelled on a train and looked outside the window, you바카라�d have noticed that distant hills seem to move slower than nearby objects, such as telephone poles. In the context of virtual production, parallax becomes crucial because it provides depth and realism to the scene. Now the images displayed on the LED panels come from game engines, such as Unreal Engine, a popular choice. It takes the position of the camera as an input and constantly renders different perspectives based on its movement, achieving parallax. And Unreal does all of it on the fly. So, for example, pulling the camera back reduces the size of the object on the LED wall or, say, panning left or right rotates it. This real-time rendering is why it바카라�s called 바카라�real-time바카라�.

Storytellers should familiarise themselves with tools like Unreal Engine바카라�which is available for free바카라�to experiment with their ideas. A reasonably beefy computer at home, for example, will allow them to create entire scenes, design camera movements, and incorporate digital humans into their virtual environments. This tech also demands a shift in mindset for creators. Filmmakers must bring on board a director of photography and a production designer familiar with virtual production. The latter plays a crucial role in seamlessly blending the virtual and the real elements, imbuing the scenes with depth. For us, that바카라�s a key challenge: to convince creators to invest time and effort during the pre-production stage. Some struggle to adapt due to financial constraints바카라�and some simply don바카라�t want to change. But if they바카라�re willing to spend more time to prepare, the results will be immensely rewarding.

Since this technology is so new, not many are familiar with it. That can create a talent gap. To bridge it, I suggest introducing virtual production education early. In fact, even without a filmmaking background, individuals can benefit from learning Unreal Engine. And upcoming tech such as the Apple Vision Pro headset바카라�a mixed reality piece that blends digital content with the physical world바카라�indicates how our world is becoming increasingly virtual. The next generation of creators should, as a result, get used to 3D content creation tools. Because in the long term, traditional roles may either evolve or get eliminated, particularly those related to physical set construction. So film schools and institutions teaching visual communications should incorporate virtual production into their curricula. Some colleges, such as New York University, already offer degrees in virtual production. Academia should show urgency because virtual production education will help avoid ad-hoc approaches and reinventing the wheel. I바카라�m concerned that without proper mainstreaming, the craft may not advance, leading to poor production values in films.

Virtual production entering the mainstream and the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) share an intimate relationship. Their convergence has resulted from the advancements in computation, making them both feasible. Qube Labs, our research arm, is actively exploring the intersection of AI and virtual production, focussing on Generative AI. This technology is already helping greatly with creating concept art but we are beginning to see how Gen AI can produce near final virtual backgrounds. As this continues to mature, we are going to see more of 바카라�final pixel바카라� work happening just on the computer perhaps even removing the need to project anything on a big wall. Performances of live actors can be captured separately and blended with virtual elements that can range from backgrounds, props and even virtual humans.   

Now let me address the cost implications of virtual production stages and the current state of the industry. This conversation runs into a paradox: wanting to commoditise virtual production while acknowledging the current price challenges. The goal is, of course, to reach economies of scale, making virtual production stages more affordable across the country. The other challenge is with creating virtual backgrounds at a high enough quality. The very limited pool of virtual artists who can accomplish this makes it rather expensive. Besides, the current marketplaces offering digital assets바카라�which are displayed on the LED wall바카라�take a long time to produce. But you can also justify the high cost by looking at the current capabilities that allow productions to create complex scenes without the need for extensive travel to external locations.

Filmmakers should, however, consider shooting specific sequences on virtual stages rather than their entire films. Imagine big stars splitting the shoot between different virtual environments in the same location. It provides a huge financial incentive. That바카라�s the transformative potential of virtual production. We believe that, in a few years, virtual production won바카라�t be qualified as such; it will simply be called production. Because that바카라�s how production will happen.

Rajesh Ramachandran is the Chief Technology Officer and President at Qube Cinema

(This appeared in the print as 'Transforming Cinema')