Virtual Production Tips

Virtual production is an incredible tool, but it can’t do everything. We still need to employ many of the skills and processes involved in a traditional shoot, and one could argue that our focus has to be even greater in order to make the most of this remarkable tool.

Over many shoots, we have assembled a short list of critical VP elements that happen outside of the volume that will get you the best results, and the most value from working with virtual production.

 

1. Lighting

As crucial as ever. Good lighting can make or break the aesthetic quality of your project. In VP, collaboration is hugely important, as a dialogue between your Unreal artist or operator and your gaffer will mean your lighting in the ‘real world’ and the lighting within the volume work in harmony.

Without this combined effort, your foreground elements, whether it’s set, props or talent will look out of place, and the illusion will be broken.

Developing an understanding between these two roles is pivotal in achieving the best result

 

2. Set and Props

The world inside the volume can give your shot as complex and rich a background as you wish, and transport you to virtually any location you can imagine. However, it is worth reminding ourselves that it is as a background element that it works to its fullest.

We have found that shots made exclusively within the volume, with no practical foreground elements can look a little unnatural, as if the subject is disconnected from their environment.

The use of just a few simple props or set elements employed in the mid and foreground gives the subject the opportunity to move between the real and the digital, tying the two environments together.

We found that matching a physical prop, such as a table or desk, with an asset in the volume and having the talent walk between the two is an extremely effective way of ‘selling’ the authenticity of the shot.

 

3. Choreography

One of the many benefits of shooting inside a volume, particularly when using a full 3D environment, is the ability to use animated assets. It could be something as simple as a light turning on, or a channel change on a television set.

Within Unreal, these changes can be programmed or manually triggered, and  choreographing that effect in the volume with the action of your talent can result in an utterly convincing interaction between the real world and the digital.

 

 

4. Keeping the camera moves natural

One of the well known benefits of working in a 3D, or 2.5D environment is the famed parallax effect, whereby elements placed at different depths move at different speeds, giving us the optical illusion of items at a greater distance moving slower than those that are close.

Having this parallax effect on offer however is not a good reason to start wildly swinging the camera around! VP offers huge depth and potential complexity to a shot, but the tech should never lead the narrative or the visual style. Your camera moves should remain as they would regardless of whether you’re filming in a volume, any deviation from this will feel unnatural, and forced.

 

We hope this has helped you to understand a bit more about how to make the most out of an LED Virtual Production Shoot. But we’re always happy to chat, so if you want to find out more, pick our brains or want to find out if your project could benefit from a little bit of VP magic then give us a call on 0117 972 0081 or email hello@distortion.studio