Virtual Production Doing the Impossible: Indie Budgets & Tight Schedules - Panel hosted by ARwall
PANEL TITLE: Virtual Production Doing the Impossible: Indie Budgets & Tight Schedules - June 2023
SUMMARY: This panel was part of the 7th Annual Open House, hosted by Soapbox Films. During the hands-on demo afterwards, filmmakers used the new ARFX Options Menu for the first time. With zero training from technical staff, virtual production novices were shaping convincing shots in minutes, altering many myths about virtual production.
PANELISTS:
Rene Amador, CEO @ ARwall, Virtual Production Supervisor
Jonny Zeller, Director
Jocelyn Hsu, President @ ARwall, Virtual Production Supervisor
= PANEL OUTLINE =
0:05 - Intro to Panelists: Rene Amador, Jonny Zeller, Jocelyn Hsu
2:05 - Intro to Crossfire Sierra Squad Live Action & Gameplay Trailer for PSVR2
3:46 - VIDEO: Crossfire Sierra Squad Live Action & Gameplay Trailer (Agency: space.camp / Ayzenberg Group, Client: Smilegate Entertainment)
4:43 - Q: How did you first get involved in this project?
7:49 - Q: Did you do anything different in preproduction for VP?
10:58 - VIDEO: Behind the scenes with ARwall on Crossfire Sierra Squad Live Action & Gameplay Trailer
15:55 - Actor Interview with Rich Guy (@RichBlackGuy), lead performer on Crossfire Sierra Squad Live Action & Gameplay Trailer
16:30 - Schedule and Virtual Production details for the shoot
18:48 - Schedule for creating scene assets in Unreal Editor
19:45 - Q: Was there anything unique you did for the first time on this project? (Clip from Tales From The Explorer's Club, 2022, WB Discovery, Ping Ping Television, Streaming now on MAX)
21:59 - Q: Can you talk about the use of the treadmill and rotating platform? Kinesthetic.
25:23 - Q: Did you learn anything on this project that you would do differently next time? More kinesthetic.
26:23 - Positives of a 30x12ft 1.5mm screen for virtual production
29:58 - Using treadmill and rotating platform to get more expansive shots out your screen and space
31:47 - Q: What would your advice be to filmmakers concerned about time and cost with virtual production?
33:45 - Nightflyers case study, 62-73% cost savings when using Virtual Production compared to VFX
36:00 - Goals we didn't have time for on this project, gun barrel tracking, augmented reality muzzle flashes
= Audience Q&A Begins =
37:18 - First Audience Question: Can you talk about the synchronization with the camera, treadmill, and turntable?
40:25 - Audience Question: How large are the assets you're working with and are you controlling them with the 3D camera on set?
42:38 - Audience Question: Can you recreate a recognizable place like a specific beach? AI assisted processes, digital twins, stock assets, Apple Vision Pro.
45:25 - Audience Question: Was there any adjustments for this commercial that you had to make from the game assets you got?
46:07 - Audience Question: Did you end up using the full height of the wall or less? (The screen is 30x12ft in dimension.)
46:36 - Audience Question: Can you talk about how you synchronize the lighting to the wall?
47:44 - Audience Question: How much of the lighting was done ahead of time?
48:36 - Discussion of Production Design dept on a virtual production shoot (Production Designer: Marshall King)
50:31 - Audience Question: ARwall has its own toolset and process which allows the director to make changes on set in real-time for color and set design?
52:23 - Audience Question: Were ever like "Holy sh*t what's gonna happen with this shot?" like often happens in traditional green screen VFX? Preparing alternatives for the filmmakers.
53:09 - Mention of Unreal Editor, ARFX Launcher, ARFX Pro Plugin, ARFX Pro Server System and ARwall store at arwall.co. Contact [email protected] for help.
54:20 - Goodbye and B-roll of the hands-on demo.
https://arwall.co [email protected]
Production Company: @ARwall
Virtual Production by ARWALL
Rene Amador, Co-Producer, Virtual Prod. Supervisor
Jocelyn Hsu, Co-Producer, Virtual Prod. Supervisor
Brandon Kakudo, Virtual Prod. Manager, Prod. Manager
Ryan Arms, Virtual Prod. Producer
Parnian Javid, Environment Artist
Danny Vargas, Sr. Software Engineer
Mark Allen, Lead Environment Artist
Guillermo Gutierrez, BizDev Manager
CJ Galarza, Technical Artist
Jonny Zeller, Director
David Klassen, Director of Photography
Marshall King, Production Designer
Michele Posch, Wardrobe
Cheyanne Klassen, Hair & Make Up Artist
Starring: Rich Guy (@richguy ) and Olivia Baptista
Agency: SPACE.CAMP/AYZENBERG
David Rielly, Group Creative Director
James Kim, Managing Director
Robbie Wenger, Creative Director
Christianne Michel, Sr. Copywriter
Tyler Hansen, Account Executive
Brett LaPlante, Sr. Project Manager
Adam Copeland, Head of Production
Tom Mishra, Sr. Producer
Luis Perozo, Producer
Esmeralda Portillo, Director, Influencer & Content Strategy
Matthew Grimalda, Manager, Influencer and Content Partnerships
Francis Sanchez, Project Manager