Virtual production, a more sustainable film production technique?

Sustainability is, righty so, becoming a bigger and bigger influence on the world that we live in. And that includes the world of TV and Film Production. One of the biggest benefits of Virtual Production is it’s sustainable attributes. This is one of the reasons that more and more people are opting to use VP (for the other benefits, click here). But why is it so sustainable?!

 

Well the biggest influencing factor is by opting to film in VP instead of on location, there can be a massive reduction in travel. You no longer need to fly the cast, crew, director, runners, and anyone else of interest out to a location to film a couple of scenes and then fly them all home again, and onto the next location. Now you can visit multiple locations in one day thanks to VP. You could start the day filming a scene in ‘Paris’ before heading to an African Sahara in the afternoon, and an Arctic snowscape in the evening. Whilst we accept that there might still be occasions where you still need to film on location, VP does help to massively reduce the need for travel.

 

Virtual Production had a massive growth during COVID19 as it made production possible in locations that would not have been possible to access in lockdowns. And as part of this, came an element of remoteness, specifically remote contribution or remote directing. Watching streams live via Zoom or bespoke platforms allows for particular members of the production team to oversee the shoot without being physically in the space. Therefore a director could dial in from LA to a production happening in Bristol. We once directed a shoot happening in Thailand from Bristol! As a result we have implemented this system in our studio, giving production teams access to an exclusive live stream so that they can watch from anywhere. Therefore once again reducing the need for unnecessary travel.

 

There will always be elements of location shoots in film and TV production, we aren’t trying to get rid of that at all, but we want to help support it in a sustainable way. Sometimes it’s not practical to uproot a whole production to get a shot on a desert or a jungle. Instead, it might be better to send a small team to go off, capture lots of footage that we can then use for backplate content, and then bring it back to the rest of the production team in the UK. This reduces crew travel (and cost!).

 

Reducing travel for crew also benefits the kit. It will also help to protect equipment therefore increasing its life span- this is because you reduce the risk of the kit being broken whilst travelling, overheating in a sunny location, getting soaked on a rainy location or getting sand, dirt etc somewhere fatal.

 

Finally, VP will help to protect areas of outstanding natural beauty by no longer needing to film there. For example, if the 2000 Leonard DiCaprio film ‘The Beach’ had been filmed in a virtual environment created in a Unreal Engine that was made to replicate a Thai beach, would Maya Bay in Thailand now be much healthier and not surrounded by tourists and rubbish that is killing it’s eco-system? Fans of film will always be inspired to travel to a location after seeing it on the big screen, but we can perhaps preserve some landscapes from destruction.

 

When we first began to embark on our journey to launch a virtual production studio in Bristol, we knew we needed to do it sustainably. Every decision we’ve made, we’ve thought about it’s impact on our planet and if there were any greener alternatives.

Here are some of the small things we’ve done to put sustainability first.

• Low energy LED
• Eco-flush
• Insulation
• Further recycling system
• Recycling our old equipment

When building the studio, there were some much larger sustainable decisions that also needed to be made. This includes:

• Solar Panels- We are currently investigating putting Solar Panels on our roof
• Sustainable suppliers – Where possible we use only green suppliers. We have a 100% green energy supplier
• Once we have been up and running for a full year, we will applying for an Albert accreditation

There are many perks of using VP for productions, but we think sustainability is one of the most significant. To find out more about how we as a studio have put sustainability first, then click here to learn all about our sustainable practises and how it influenced the build of Distortion Studio. To talk to our team about any upcoming production queries email pete@distortion.studio or call 0117 972 0081