Virtual Production
Overview
Virtual production heralds new and exciting possibilities for film and television production. But with any new innovation, new tools and workflows need to be established. There is no longer room for making extensive decisions on set or even in post; ‘pre’ is the new ‘post’.
Khorus Media embarked on an ambitious project to bring a live production of Mozart’s Opera, The Magic Flute to screen using virtual production.
They brought all their planning onto SpaceDraft allowing for multiple departments to share and contribute to a single vision of the production.
With SpaceDraft, Khorus Media was able to…
Provide a bridge between art direction in Unreal Engine and the shoot.
Plan and walkthrough each setup in relation to the virtual environment.
Collaborate with multiple departments on the same platform.
Existing Challenges
Building this virtual production required multiple departments to work in parallel instead of the linear way traditional film productions operate. The Virtual Art Department were building environments in Unreal Engine, the Technical Director was planning the architecture for the LED wall and green screen, whilst the creative team were planning shots and camera setups.
They were quickly overwhelmed with the multiple tools they were using to prepare for the shoot; a dialogue script, a score, spreadsheets with shotlists and online whiteboards for Art design.
Working fully remote during pre-production due to COVID-19 restrictions meant nothing was actioned unless it was documented.
SpaceDraft gave us a simple and powerful way for the Khorus team to fully express our individual creative ideas. We were finally sharing a common language.
These tools are providing opportunities across the board for all of the different departments to come together, and that’s going to be a necessity as we move into the new normal.
Mike Perkins , Epic Games Business Management Developer
Solutions
Having a central platform that all team members connected with was vital as we navigated this production during lockdown.
By using SpaceDraft we could be confident that all departments were stepping onto set with the same understanding of what we were trying to create.
Beyond storyboards:
SpaceDraft adds the critical element of time into otherwise static storyboard – showing cast and crew where they need to be, when.
Simple, but limitless:
The whole team found the platform easy to use whilst having everything they needed to bring their work to life.
The missing tool for Virtual Production:
This new approach to filmmaking requires a new way to quickly and easily communicate creative ideas- Spacecraft fills this gap.
Results
We were able to complete a feature-length virtual production shoot during COVID restrictions in under 4 weeks.
Despite the limited crew and reduced on-set time – all team members shared the planning equally.
Why its for the future of virtual planning
Why this is important from the get go
Whilst the technology forges ahead, it places additional pressure on the ability for teams align on the creative vision and communicate their individual disciplines. VFX, art departments and even executive are now needed to participate in the development stage of project but there has not been the requisite growth in tools to be able to facilitate this new way of working.
The SpaceDraft solution for Virtual Production teams
SpaceDraft fills an important gap by offering a flexible platform for communicating ideas across the entire virtual production workflow.
We continue to use SpaceDraft in the post-production phase of The Magic Flute and are beginning to bring our ‘traditional’ film projects onto the platform.
As we embark on the scripting and development of more Virtual Productions with SpaceDraft, we are excited to streamline our team and processes as we adapt to the new normal post COVID.
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