Diana Garle 和 William Forsythe’s characters were arguing about the seriousness of an onscreen crime when director Lou Simón yelled, “切!” The scene’s proportions were off: The actors needed to be closer to the back of the room. 而不是换演员, 机组人员, 道具, 相机, 和灯, 满帆 游戏艺术 Director Chad Kendall 和 a student got to work on a nearby computer. 敲几下键盘，客厅就布置好了 9窗口 zoomed closer to the 相机 和 the actors shifted seamlessly into the next take.

Actors Diana Garle 和 William Forsythe on the set of 9窗口.

片场的调整曾经消耗了宝贵的时间, 钱, 和 energy only take a few seconds in a virtual production studio. Major players like HBO 和 Netflix have already built large studios 和 released virtually produced series like 曼德罗瑞, while smaller commercial studios are cropping up throughout the country. Industry pros are saying that these studios are the future of filmmaking — 和 满帆大学’s recently opened Studio V1: Virtual Production is bringing that future to students.

9窗口希区柯克经典的现代化版 后窗这是该工作室的第一部作品. The project is a case study in professional-level virtual production, 和 it’s the first of many films that students will work on to prepare for the next generation of on-set tech.

用虚拟制作技术增强真实感

Virtual production blows prior special effects technology out of the water. Instead of placing actors in front of a green screen 和 filling in the world behind them in post-production, filmmakers work with game artists in pre-production to construct a set in a video game engine. 任何可以想象的环境, 从办公室到末日后的火星城市, is displayed behind the actors on a sweeping LED screen, 把他们从摄影棚“带到现场”. 电影makers bring in 道具 和 furniture for the foreground, 但是所有的背景元素都是数字化的, 三维, 和 so realistic that it’s impossible for audiences to discern a film’s physical elements from the LED backdrop.

Two of the virtual production components that create this striking realism are the parallax effect 和 built-in LED lighting. You’ve probably noticed the parallax effect when you’ve been a passenger in a car: As you’re driving, objects just outside the window move quicker than the faraway l和scape. 电影makers used to struggle to recreate parallax — running a camera across a two-dimensional digital background forces both near 和 far objects to move at the same rate, 创建平面效果. 虚拟生产, the camera within the game engine syncs up with on-set 相机, creating the same shift in perspective that you’d notice in a three-dimensional world. The result is a realistic live scene that’s captured in a single shot, giving everyone on set a real-time look at the film’s final appearance 和 saving time 和 钱 in post-production.

Crew members get a realistic panning shot with the parallax effect in Studio V1.

Virtual production is also changing the lighting game on movie sets. The panels on the LED screen have built-in lighting that emits a more realistic glow than lighting that is added or changed in post-production. 面板还可以防止颜色溢出, which occurs when on-set lights bounce off green or blue screen backdrops 和 create tinted glares that have to be removed later. 除了, directors can use the game engine to change the mood of a scene by adding or removing warmth, 改变光的焦点, or taking outdoor scenes from midday to dusk in seconds.

Green 和 blue screens 和 post-production effects will have a place in movies for a long time to come, but the industry is headed towards the next generation of special effects — 和 满帆 is meeting those dem和s with a $3-million investment in its students’ futures.

透过Studio V1提升电影教育

Building an on-campus virtual production studio was the logical next step for a university that prides itself on prepping students to work on the post-graduation projects of their dreams. 在这种情况下, 满帆 is giving students real-world experience in creating imaginary worlds for their student films as well as any commercial 和 creative projects that come 满帆’s way.

The studio’s specs are impressive: Top-of-the-line Brompton LED processors convey images from Unreal Engine onto the studio’s 40-foot wide 和 16-foot high LED wall. Five hundred hyper-pixel LED tiles (with 410 tiles on the ground 和 90 tiles across the ceiling) create crisp imagery for sets. All of this combines to make Studio V1 among the most technologically advanced on-campus studios in the country.

学生在 电影和电视专业 will obviously have opportunities to work in the studio, but peers in other programs will also gain experience from Studio V1. 游戏艺术 students will help build the 虚拟集s in Unreal Engine, 艺术 & 设计 students can give input on the look 和 feel of the 3D environments, 和 students in 满帆的技术 programs will interact with the latest in entertainment tech. 其结果是跨学科的, h和s-on training experience that prepares students from a variety of backgrounds to work in movies, 电视, 广告, 和更多的.

Studio V1 has gotten plenty of use since its ribbon-cutting ceremony in early March: 学生 already put their skills to work on the studio’s first feature film, 98%是虚拟的 9窗口.

9窗口

9窗口 是对希区柯克的致敬 后窗. Liza (played by Diana Garle) is a car crash survivor who watches nine continuously livestreaming videos as she learns how to walk again. Sparks fly during her home appointments with Jeff (Christopher Millan), 她的物理治疗师, 而斯特拉, 受alexa启发的智能家居设备, 充当数字护士. 侦探博伊尔(威廉·福赛斯饰) 提高亚利桑那州 和 迪克·崔西)和联邦调查局探员拉里·瑟古德(迈克尔·帕尔瑟夫饰) 火之街 和 费城实验) work with Liza to find a masked killer (Jason Hignite) who uses serial killer-inspired pseudonyms as he livestreams his murders.

委员会成员 9窗口 演员和工作人员在V1工作室重置一个镜头.

9窗口 触及虚拟生产的所有元素, making it a stellar choice for the studio’s first film. The opening driving sequence gave students a firsth和 look at creating the parallax effect in process shots for realistic car scenes. 学生 learned how to make “sunlight” from the LED tiles look natural as it streamed through Liza’s windows, with virtual leaves fluttering softly in a virtual breeze. Scenes in the killer’s basement taught students about the unique set dressing needs of virtual productions: Items had to be strategically placed to mimic the depth of a physical environment through the virtual 和 on-set 相机.

Visual 艺术s Education Director 瑞克拉姆塞 works with a student to tweak the 9窗口 虚拟集.

More than a dozen students from 满帆’s 电影 program worked on set for 9窗口, with additional 游戏艺术 students aiding in the Unreal Engine development of Liza’s home, 她家的车, 还有凶手诡异的地下室. But student experiences in Studio V1 didn’t end with the movie’s final shots. 学生项目将于2022年晚些时候开始拍摄, 和 满帆 is ready to send those graduates into professional virtual production careers.

虚拟生产中的现实世界职业

学生 who work on their final projects or outside productions in Studio V1 will have plenty of help as they look for jobs at virtual production studios. 瑞克拉姆塞, 满帆的视觉艺术教育总监, says that the school is already developing relationships with professional studios in a number of states.

“我们与 Vū工作室他在坦帕有自己的办公室. They're building a new one here in Orl和o 和 a sister stage on our campus. 他们在拉斯维加斯有个地方, 他们要在奥斯丁建一个空间, 德州, 它将成为vui家族的一员. We are really partnering with them to fill all those spaces with our students. 那里有很多机会.”

Outside projects will also give students the chance to spread their virtual production wings 和 gain experience working with clients. 几天后 9窗口 wrapped, students helped out with a spaceship scene for 空间幼崽, then worked on a documentary about Hawaiian musician Israel Kamakawiwoʻole later in the week.

“We definitely want to take advantage of giving our students real-world access by having clients come in with feature films, 或短裤, 或广告, (让学生们)也做这些,里克说. “The opportunities would definitely not be, 和 shouldn't be, limited to the classroom at all.”

Audiences will find out if Liza defeats both a killer 和 her own demons when 9窗口 会在2022年秋季上映吗. But until then, a world of possibilities will find a place in Studio V1.