Iberseries & Platino Industria 2024
Industry Report: New Media
Iberseries & Platino Industria zooms in on the virtual-set revolution
Experts have been debating the key commercial implications of this innovative new shooting method that avoids having to be dependent on external locations, travelling or inclement weather
Top-tier professionals in the fields of creation and production, who have already helmed virtual-production projects, were present at a round-table entitled “Virtual Production: Changing the Rules of the Game” on Thursday 3 October, day 3 of Iberseries & Platino Industria. They shared their experiences with the audience, detailing the opportunities and benefits offered by this cutting-edge technology as well as delving into the requirements inherent in it. Hailing from various creative and technical domains, those present talked about how to get the most out of this transformative tool that is already revolutionising the audiovisual industry. The speakers were Georgina Terán, CEO of EFD Studios (Mexico); Mauricio Van Hasselt, virtual production on-set producer at PIXOMONDO (Mexico); David Monguet, virtual production on-set producer at MO&MO (Spain); Spanish DoP Miguel Amoedo; and Amaya Muruzábal, CEO of M Content (Spain).
The moderator was cinematographer Ismael Isaac (Spain), who posed a question on stage: “What is production on virtual sets all about?” To this, Van Hasselt replied: “It’s the confluence of various existing technologies, which have reached maturity, from areas such as video games and IT. We are learning lessons every day in this field, and we find ourselves at the ideal moment in time to offer techniques that will elevate the quality of audiovisual products.”
Regarding this new tool, Miguel Amoedo also underlined, “The learning process is lengthy, and it will gradually be integrated into the industry little by little.” David Monguet confirmed this idea: “It’s about constant learning because there are still no experts on the subject, as it’s all constantly evolving. Right now, we can shoot outdoor scenes and have a temporary, virtual set in case the weather turns nasty, for example.” Amaya Muruzábal stated, “We don’t know what this revolution really means or what the implications will be. We are used to special effects, but virtual production is quite another matter.”
Other ideas brought up during the talk covered the fact that it’s still a technology in its infancy and, like all new concepts, it scares people. Mauricio Van Hasselt remarked, “It’s important for any producer to experiment with this technique in order to improve his or her project, but it all has to be talked through beforehand, in pre-production.” The rest of the speakers all agreed on this point: all of the departments working on a shoot must do their jobs while bearing in mind the possibilities of virtual production. “For screenwriters, for instance, it opens all the doors imaginable for writing stories where the sky’s the limit,” stressed Amaya Muruzábal.
“It’s easy to convince a producer when it’s something that makes the logistics simpler,” continued Miguel Amoedo, “because you can shoot nighttime scenes in the middle of the day, and we as DoPs have perfect continuity in the lighting. It has a major impact across all departments. It’s a collective act of faith: you have to believe in the technology. But we mustn’t forget that the virtual set is not a magic bullet; we are the ones who have to film on it.”
Georgina Terán specified: “There’s always caution with any technological change. There are producers and directors in the USA who don’t want to work with this technology because they feel scared. That’s why we need to organise informative workshops so that people shake off that fear.” Amoedo continued: “It offers huge advantages, no matter the scale of the project: it’s a tool that allows us to overcome inferiority complexes.” Muruzábal provided an example: “Not long ago, we had a series with too many locations, and we couldn’t afford to travel to so many places to shoot. With this technique, we will have no preconceptions when it comes to writing stories.”
Terán followed up on this by mentioning another case: “If we have a film with lots of shots in China, there’s no need for us all to travel there; it’s enough for a small team to go there and capture images of the locations.” Amodeo added: “There are some highly risky activities that we wouldn’t be able to shoot in the real world, and now we are able to. The entire production must be designed around this tool. We had a case where we were shooting outdoors, it started raining and it got too cold, so we went back to the virtual set and shot the rest of the scene there. Now, you can’t even tell what was shot in each place. And in order to achieve that, it’s fundamental to have a good DoP.”
Amaya Muruzábal offered up another example: “We made a road movie that involved time-travelling, and if we’d had access to this tool, we could have gone into all of the palaces and castles.” Finally, Terán mentioned the environmental benefits that this new technique offers: “Every journey the crew makes uses fuel, and so this alternative is important for sustainability: it’s fundamental to be open-minded, and soon, we will film more using virtual production.” She wrapped up the chat by asserting, “We are soon going to build a 2,000-square-metre virtual set in Prado del Espino (Madrid).”
(Translated from Spanish)
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