Walking the floors of both InfoComm 2023 and NAB 2023 it was obvious that Virtual Production (VP) as a market segment has moved from buzzy trend to worthy of full blown R&D assets for manufacturers. The industry-wide expansion of the segment has manufacturers quickly developing products and technologies that will push it even further along. As noted at NAB, in 2022 roughly 50 out of 1,200 booths showed VP solutions. A year later there were 600 out of 1,500 booths in the segment. And while VP has been a steadily growing part of the broadcast/film market for sometime, today elements of the technology are also making significant inroads into live events and concerts. Fortunately, as VP is becoming more ubiquitous in the entertainment technology industry, there are a wealth of learning opportunities being offered. The education side of both shows offered full schedules of VP sessions, acknowledging that the VP segment is creating new roles and career paths that will reshape the workflow throughout the industry. Manufacturers, distributors, VP studios, production companies, rental houses, and associations are all offering various VP trainings—either in-person, online, or video tutorials. It brings to mind the efforts of manufacturers and distributors in the early days of moving light consoles, and the extensive training efforts offered to shift people to the then industry changing technology. Now, VP offers a whole ecosystem to explore and learn—LED walls, LED processing, cameras and camera tracking systems, control, software and hardware, among other elements. So, though the concept of virtual production is not new, it is still relatively the early days of today’s technologies and techniques stretching the VP segment across the industry. If you have interest in expanding your skills and career possibilities now is the time to seize the opportunity. As ever, at PLSN we want to help our readers keep current with the industry, which is why we started our In The Volume section to cover VP—the people, products, technologies, ideas, and techniques, both emerging and established. Let us know what you think and what you want to learn more about.
Michael S. Eddy
Editor, Projection, Lights & Staging News
