Because you just said, “I was tricked.”
ㆍVirtual studios use digital virtual environments to create content in real-time.
ㆍSouth Korea-based startup, ‘VA Corporation’ utilizes virtual production to create a wide range of content, such as XR live broadcasts, movies, dramas, commercials, music videos, conferences, virtual humans, and more.
ㆍWe’re all Truman in immersive 3D visuals.
Real or virtual?
The shocking ending of “The Truman Show” is the realization that what appeared to be an open sky and roiling ocean was actually a studio. Truman walks up the stairs and leaves the screen. The Truman Show deceived both the audience and the main character. How is it possible to create a seemingly real screen? It’s done through a “virtual studio”. In simple terms, live-action footage is projected onto the walls of a studio. The live-action and virtual images are combined in real-time to create a digital backdrop on an LED wall, and the filming takes place in a virtual environment. The end result is an effect that creates the sensation of actually being there. In short, virtual studios do the trick. However, there’s a certain realism to a more lifelike image that can still fool us.
Secrets of the trick
VA Corporation’s virtual production studio in South Korea is equipped with a 19.4-meter-long, 6.2-meter-high LED wall, two special effects walls with 7.9-meter ceilings, and five waiting rooms. The studio is capable of shooting everything from ICVFX* to XR. We have access to CG, VFX, AR, VR, and other technologies, allowing us to create real-time virtual environments and shoot them in conjunction with camera positions and movements, actor behavior, and more. What are the benefits of creating content in a hybrid studio like this?
*ICVFX: A technique that uses LEDs, camera tracking, and real-time rendering to capture real people and virtual backgrounds in cinematography.
1. Virtual studios are an evolution of chroma key. Before virtual production was commercialized, creating immersive content required filming on a green screen and then adding the technology to the content in post-production. With virtual studios, however, there’s no need to set up a green screen because you start shooting within the CG-enhanced footage. It also eliminates the laborious process of compositing CG later.
2. For the same reasons as 1, there is no need to build a physical set. Creating a set just once reduces costs and environmental pollution. The main idea of virtual production is to seamlessly blend the digital virtual world inside the LED wall with the physical artwork in front of the LED wall, creating the illusion of one cohesive world. The perfect integration of virtual and real elements makes the background appear more realistic, adding depth and perspective that surpasses that of a 2D set.
3. Overcome the limitations of weather. Weather presents one of the biggest challenges for on-location filming due to its unpredictability. Natural sunlight is not controllable, so shooting outdoors provides only a limited time to capture everything. However, LED walls offer a solution, as they are covered with screens from floor to ceiling. With this technology, you can create various weather conditions, such as sunny or cloudy, and even simulate sunlight. This allows your crew to experience realistic weather effects with minimal need for artificial lighting.
4. As a result, virtual studios can save money and time on production using innovative technology. For example, during the production of Season 2 of the Disney+ original series The Mandalorian, the virtual creation of the Star Wars universe planet Nubian was completed in just one week with a team of only 10 people. This significantly reduced the need for a crew of about 250 and a 40-day shooting schedule.
Anyone can be a star of the Truman Show
Recently, VA Corporation presented a virtual production of scenes from the play “The Old Man and the Sea” using XR technology, which includes AR, MR, and VR. The production dynamically portrayed the story of an old man’s struggle with a giant fish through various immersive and interactive technologies. It sparked the imagination: What if an AI fish with LLM could understand the old man and have a real-time conversation with him without a script? Of course, the LLM fish can’t exist in real life, so the audience would need to wear a VR HMD* to see the fish talking to a human in virtual reality. However, in a virtual studio with the capability to broadcast VR footage in real-time, creators are not limited by reality and can bring to life worlds and stories that have never existed before. This opens up a realm where the imagination of the creators knows no bounds.
*HMD: Head Mounted Display. A head-worn display primarily used for virtual or augmented reality.
The whole world is media. You are being deceived, but you may not even realize it. Just like Truman.
