Virtual Production on an Indie Budget

>> YOUR LINK HERE: ___ http://youtube.com/watch?v=JWTWvlmnH3U

I’m Vashi Nedomansky, ACE and when I’m not editing feature films, I enjoy expanding my filmmaking knowledge and implementing new technologies into my work. Welcome to my Virtual Production (VP) Behind the Scenes where I break down how I created an entire VP campaign with the Coachella Valley Firebirds professional hockey team and what I learned along the way. It was quite an adventure. Get ready for the good, the bad, the ugly, what I learned, what I became better at, what was frustrating, what was amazing and what was creatively stimulating. • 0:00 Intro to Virtual Production • 1:43 The Project explained • 3:46 Pre-Production • 6:07 In The Volume • 10:59 Post Production • 13:33 Lessons Learned • 18:55 The Results • Full article: https://vashivisuals.com/virtual-prod... • Enjoy! • 10 TIPS FOR VIRTUAL PRODUCTIONS • 1. Light the talent from above in the Volume. Overhead panels help blend the talent in with the LED wall. Color temperature of the overhead ambient light at Vū Studio was also controllable to match the time of day in the 3D Unreal Environments. • 2. Keep the talent at least 10 feet away from the LED wall to hide the gap and seams between the individual panels. Any closer to the wall and you may see vertical lines or moire on the LED wall. • 3. Shoot with a lower aperture (f1.4 - f4) to help hide the seams and unify the background. The slight blurring of the background using depth of field aids in selling the visual. • 4. Additional lights for talent should not point directly at the LED walls as that will lower the contrast of the background LED wall and spoil the illusion. Use side lighting or soft light at an angle to better illuminate the talent without spraying light onto the LED panels. • 5. Anamorphic lenses or a widescreen aspect ratio (even by cropping in post) helps showcase the background and create a wider, more cinematic look. Wide stages help fill the frame and add that immersive quality to the imagery. • 6. Find and collaborate with experienced Unreal Engine artists that can help realize your 3D environments and craft realistic worlds in which to shoot. Hire the best artists your budget allows and give them as many reference images from films, TV shows and other inspirations as you can find. • 7. Embrace photogrammetry and free digital information for topography to build your locations and worlds. From LIDAR Google images to Open Street Maps to MapBox, there are assets out there to help build photorealistic worlds. • 8. The smaller the pixel pitch of the LED panels in the Volume, the better the final results will be. A smaller pixel pitch offers less moire and allows for getting closer to the LED wall to retain resolution and clarity. • 9. Capture in camera, but realize you can always add or adjust shots further in post. We added snowflakes, blowing sand and also used Generative Fill AI to enhance the footage shot on the virtual stage. • 10. Turn the Volume into a giant green screen for additional options if time allows at the end of your shoot. The cast and crew are already there, so grab bonus camera angles to integrate into your project as supplementary footage. It could solve a problem downstream. • • Here is our technical recipe for a successful Virtual Production: • VashiVisuals Virtual Production Toolkit and Pipeline • UNREAL ENVIRONMENTS • DELL Precision 7920 Tower Workstation • Intel Xeon Gold 6136 CPU @3.00GHz 12 Cores (x2) • NVIDIA RTX A6000 GPU 48GB VRAM • 192GB RAM • Windows 10 • DELL UP3221Q UltraSharp 32 HDR PremierColor Monitor • VIRTUAL PRODUCTION SHOOT • RED Komodo Camera shooting 8K anamorphic (2:1) R3D files @ 8640 x 4320 pixels • LOMO anamorphic lenses (50mm T2.4 / 75mm T2.4) • MoSys Startracker Camera Tracker • Vu 3.9 Translucent Ceiling Panels with MoSys Tracking Stars • Aputure LS 600d (x3) + Aputure Nova 300c (x6) • Sidus Link app for remote lighting control • 5+1 Servers (5 NDisplay Render Nodes + 1 Artist Node) each with a NVIDIA RTX A6000 GPU • POST-PRODUCTION • Dell PRECISION 7865 Tower Workstation • AMD Ryzen Threadripper PRO 5975WX 32-cores / @3.6GHz • NVIDIA RTX A6000 GPU 48GB VRAM • 128GB RAM • Windows 10 • Dell UP3221Q UltraSharp 32 HDR PremierColor Monitor • Dell U4924DW UltraSharp 49 Curved dual QHD Monitor • Dell UP3218K UltraSharp 32 8K Monitor • Frame.io for review and version sharing • LucidLink for cloud-based editorial and remote post-production

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