World First at Pathway with 65mm Celluloid Shoot
In a world first, Manchester based VP studio Pathway brought together 30 years of media production technology to shoot 65mm celluloid film on a ROE Visual LED stage. Since their December launch, the studio at Pathway has hosted talent such as Jason Derulo and has filmed for end clients such as, McLaren, BBC Three and NBC. All productions at Pathway have been filmed on a large format LED display stage consisting of ROE Visual Ruby RB2.3 LED panels, powered by a Megapixel VR HELIOS LED processing platform.
For the VP On 65mm Film project, Nathan Newman co-founder of Pathway explains, “We wanted to see if shooting an LED wall on 65mm could give virtual production filmmaking more character and presence.” The film is based on the novel Questus by Shawn Williamson and features character Angus MacWilliam, played by Graham Gardner, who wields a stone sword as he slowly advances through dense Scottish gorse bushes on the edge of Loch Eriboll.
VP On 65mm Film was shot by cinematographer Paul Mortlock, GBCT and directed by James Slater. The 65mm camera, which was created by German manufacturer ARRI in 1986 by Otto Blaschek, is known for its use on feature films such as Gravity (2013) and Tenet (2020).
The virtual production scene was built using the real-time video game software Unreal Engine 5 which gave the filmmakers a high degree of control over lighting and composition of the shot. “This project was a case of two firsts for me – shooting on a virtual production set and on 65mm. I felt privileged to experience first hand the possibilities this could offer,” commented VP On 65mm Film Director James Slater. Pathway’s Newman notes, “It’s not every day that you get to work with such a rare and prestigious camera and we were delighted to onboard such helpful collaborators.” The blending of analogue and digital production methods for virtual production was made possible through a collaboration with Kodak, Panavision and ARRI Rental.
The VP studio had a narrow time window of just 10 days to make the test happen. “When we told our would-be collaborators about our plans they didn’t ask ‘why?’ they asked ‘what do you need?’ We couldn’t have made this happen without their kind support and a shared vision to pursue innovation.”
Pathway has a 6,000 sq. ft. facility dedicated to the creation of real-time produced media with LED volumes. They offer part Innovation Lab, part Production Facility, supporting filmmakers, technologists and artists from research and education through to delivering their shoot in real-time. Their space houses a 5,000 sq. ft. VP Studio space and 1,000 sq. ft. of additional facilities and production support rooms. Learn more at https://www.pathwayxr.studio and by going to https://www.roevisual.com
Brompton Technology Powers New LED Stage at NIPA in South Korea
The National IT Industry Promotion Agency (NIPA) is a government-operated organization in South Korea that aims to promote and develop the country’s IT industry. Recently, the organization collaborated with the South Korean XR, Virtual Production consulting and environment construction specialist, ARK Ventures Inc, to create an innovative LED stage using state-of-the-art technology, including ROE Visual panels powered by industry-leading Brompton 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors.
NIPA collaborates with partners worldwide to create business opportunities and conducts research. This informs IT policy decisions and focuses on cultivating a skilled workforce and fostering international exchange to advance South Korean IT companies.
According to David Oh, General Manager at Ark Ventures, the new LED stage has equipped NIPA to facilitate more innovative content development in the local market. “We were thrilled to be involved in this project and work with NIPA’s technical team to provide world-class LED equipment that is both future-proof and reliable. The new LED stage will enable NIPA to provide local companies with a cutting-edge virtual production experience in an optimal LED setting,” he says.
Featuring a curved design, the main LED wall is composed of ROE Visual Black Pearl BP2V2 panels measuring 16m by 4m, with a floor comprising ROE Visual Black Marble BM4 panels measuring 14.6m wide by 6.7m deep. To ensure the best possible performance, the entire setup is powered by three Brompton 4K Tessera SX40 LED processors and six Tessera 10G data distribution units.
“Tessera features that will be particularly relevant to NIPA’s needs include Frame Remapping, which enables multiple cameras to each see a uniquely rendered background with the correct perspective, on-screen tracking markers for use with the Mo-Sys StarTracker, ShutterSync®, which allows tuning of the LED refresh rate to the camera, and Studio Mode that reduces a fixture’s maximum brightness while maintaining the PWM bit depth,” continues Oh. “We are confident the NIPA team and its partners will be able to take full advantage of these capabilities in their innovative projects.”
Luke Hurford, Brompton’s Business Development Manager, APAC, is excited to see Ark Ventures deploying Tessera SX40 at NIPA. “Brompton is fully committed to supporting the industry’s innovators with cutting-edge LED processing solutions,” he concludes. “As we continue to introduce new features that expand the creative potential of our Tessera processors, it is a privilege to see industry leaders like Ark Ventures choosing Brompton LED processing for such prestigious government-operated organization in South Korea.”
How Luke Halls Studio is Streamlining Projection Mapping Workflows
Multi-disciplinary moving image design company Luke Halls Studio is renowned for their work across the performing arts, using innovative tech to project elaborate 2D and 3D imagery upon ambitious sets. Continuously raising the bar on what can be achieved with these techniques, they turned to Mapping Matter to fuel creativity and deliver faster workflows in a complex field. “When you are involved so intrinsically with the early stages of a design process, being light on your feet with iterations is imperative,” says Zakk Hein, Technical Manager and Creative Associate at Luke Halls Studio.
The existing process of bringing these ideas to reality was drawn out for the studio’s technical team. As well as being time-consuming, manually drafting in CAD software was neither intuitive nor capable of clearly conveying ideas in a way that clients could understand. The team needed a tool that would help to embed clients into the process at every stage, allowing them to drive conversation and present their ambitions in a simple way that did even the earliest of concepts justice.
Luke Halls Studio saw Mapping Matter as a clear solution to these needs. The platform’s ability to tie in with the design process while delivering in-depth projection planning and analysis would enable the team to communicate technical ideas and challenges that arose to clients at every stage of a project. “Mapping Matter is my tool of choice,” states Hein, “because of how well it fits into our creative process. This is my only process now for specifying a rig for production. The 3D model downloads and data output for your rig give you instant results the moment you get onsite, and both your team and the client can feel confident and involved at every step of the journey.”
Enhancing team collaboration
When the studio was called upon to create projected content for Britain’s largest immersive gallery in London, the Frameless Art Exhibition, Mapping Matter offered an efficient way to map and trial feasibility studies for each of the five rooms. As they quickly created mapping visualizations that enabled them to pick the right designs and work out the logistics behind mounting each of them, Mapping Matter became an invaluable tool. “Contractors completely understood what we needed, because they could walk out of our meetings with a full 3D model of the space and how the 52 projectors would be integrated into the end product,” Hein says. “The best thing about Mapping Matter is the speed at which you can get answers back to the people who need them most.”
Aligning the creative and technical together
The studio’s work with Bottega Veneta’s Autumn/Winter 2020 fashion show in Milan presented a complex problem, with the classical architecture of an Italian palace projected onto semi-translucent gauze. The idea was to create a visual that enabled attendees to look past columns to the structures beyond, and Mapping Matter’s intuitive interface enabled the team to create a projection plan that even took into account the spill of light through the material. See more of Luke Halls Studio work at https://lukehalls.com and learn more about Mapping Matters, now integrated with disguise Cloud at https://www.disguise.one.
Cabal Esports Boosts Virtual Production of Gaming Events
The entertainment production company, Cabal Esports offers television broadcasting services, live events, gaming and eSports. It is a pioneering production company in esports competitions and streaming entertainment with extensive experience in audiovisual production for digital platforms, in addition to developing esports products and managing competitions for publishers and other industry players. Recently, Cabal Esports signed a strategic alliance with Atresmedia to jointly create CTK, an international organizer of tournaments and gaming experiences.
Cabal Esports recently acquired 126 Alfalite Modularpix Pro VP XR 1.9 LED panels with ORIM® technology to broadcast virtual production content in the different gaming events in which this Spanish company provides services. Alfalite is a leading European LED screen manufacturer based in Spain. Cabal Esports has installed the Alfalite LEDWall in its new studio in Alcobendas (Madrid). Depending on the event to be produced, the screen is assembled and disassembled in different shapes and sizes thanks to the versatility of Alfalite Litepix, the panel with which the Alfalite Litepix VP XR 1.9 ORIM solution acquired by the production company is built. Cabal Esports has already used its new Alfalite LED panels as part of the set to play virtual production content generated with Unreal Engine in different types of events, such as Los Panas by Santalucía streamings, Ubisoft’s Gaming Live Events, CTK (Atresmedia) Gaming tournaments, and PlayStation Channel’s Twitch sets, among others.
“We are delighted that Cabal Esports, a reference company in the world of eSports and gaming, has trusted our LED panels to work in their events with a VP XR ecosystem using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine,” says Raquel Villarejo, Sales Director of Rental at Alfalite, the only European manufacturer of LED screens.
Villarejo adds: “Virtual production is revolutionizing the process of making series, hybrid events, films, advertising and television, and our LED panels offer endless possibilities to enrich VP XR environments and optimize processes and costs in the world of gaming, a sector that is growing significantly in recent years, with a great potential for development and expansion”.
In turn, Juan José Boronat, CEO of Cabal Esports, says: “We chose Alfalite Litepix ORIM VP XR for its image quality in camera and the confidence that gives us its reliability in live events, beyond its ease of assembly and disassembly of the sets and accuracy between panels. In addition, with ORIM we can rest assured if the screen is hit or splashed with liquids. We are very pleased to have Alfalite as our technology partner.” Learn more at https://cabalesports.com and at https://alfalite.com.
China’s Largest LED VP Studio Opens
Recently the largest LED virtual production studio in China was launched in Wuxi Studios, a national film industry park and film production space. The virtual production screen is constructed by ROE Visual BP2V2 LED panels. When the 2023 China Jiangsu Taihu Film and Culture Industry Investment Summit and Film Technology Week opened on June 20, the event unveiled the 44 meters long, 10 meters high, 23 meters in diameter screen. The China Research Institute of Film Science & Technology and Wuxi Studio also announced their joint creation of the first 5G-powered intelligent virtual filming lab in China. The lab consists of three core components: a virtual film shooting center, an AIGC innovation center, and an intelligent computing center. They plan to promote virtual filmmaking techniques through the application of 5G, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the cultivation of talents specializing in digital cinematography.
