Agile Scalable Virtual Production

Virtual production (VP) is a term that describes any aspect of modern filmmaking that employs real-time technology to move some element of pre-production, shooting or post-production into a shared virtual space. Currently these techniques are primarily reserved for a small number of big-budget Hollywood movie productions with the ability to invest large amounts of time, resources and infrastructure into this technology.

What we propose with this grant are three cutting edge pieces of research and development that combine to create an agile scalable VP solution that will allow these techniques to be utilised across projects of all scales, reduce the barrier to entry for new users and be more efficiently scaled to work within a wider production infrastructure:

1. Development of a simple set of tools that improves on the state-of-the-art in virtual production, by implementing an agile, cost effective, easily deployable VP setup, created from the ground up with remote collaboration and the needs of the geographically distributed filmmakers at its core, who, due to Covid-19, must be able to operate with minimal in person support.

2. An innovative, adaptable new toolset that enables the data and creative decisions made within a virtual production session to be captured, organised, packaged and published in order to be efficiently utilised by downstream departments and the wider infrastructure required of productions both large and small.

3. A pipeline for the structured sharing of assets between VFX software and the real-time game engines required for VP, thereby improving workflows, increasing efficiency and therefore reducing cost.

By simplifying the hardware setup and user interface for VP, bringing automation and order to the data capture and improving the efficiency of transferring computer generated assets into the virtual space we will create a powerful new suite of cutting edge tools that will allow film and television production to once again be productive in the face of Covid-19 travel and shoot restrictions.