Virtual Production - What is virtual production and what is its impact on the future of filmmaking

With the rapid technical developments that we have witnessed in the last ten years, and with the urgent need in the field of film industry to adapt to technical developments, to reach work with more professionalism, and at a lower cost and effort, the field of film industry had to also receive a space of technical developments, the most important of which is virtual production - Virtual Production. What is it and what is its role in the development of film industry? What is Virtual Production? Virtual production is an emerging method that uses a set of programs and tools to combine live footage of an actor, such as an actor, or others, with a virtual graphic world, with the two interacting with each other. With the use of virtual production - virtual production in the world of filmmaking, the use of visual effects is no longer limited to the post-production stage, but rather work on them before production in order to add them or part of them in the production stage directly and in live form in another, more simplified way. The idea of virtual production - virtual production is based on working on a virtual world that is designed with 3D design programs, such as the unreal engine program, and these worlds are displayed on screens that represent the background of the filming site, and these backgrounds interact with the movement of the camera. Focus movement, zoom, etc. These screens also provide lighting sources for the actor, allowing for a state of natural lighting on the filming site.

This technology was used in The Mandalorian series, where filming took place entirely within studios surrounded by screens that display these pre-designed worlds, and interact completely with the camera. What is the working mechanism of Virtual Production technology? The working mechanism of Virtual Production technology is represented by the presence of motion sensors on the filming site in contact with a control device placed on the camera. The motion sensors track the movement of the camera on which the control device is located and pass the information to a computer on the filming location, which adjusts the data of the virtual world based on the details of the camera movement on the filming location. Filmmakers who work in the field of Virtual Production - virtual production use the same virtual reality devices that are used in games, the most important of which is the well-known HTC Vive. And the famous one, so that the sensors and the controller are installed as we mentioned above. Virtual Production - Virtual production and its impact on filmmaking Using virtual production technology, it has become easy to use, change and modify the filming location quickly, so that you can seamlessly replace the filming location virtually in the unreal engine software, and you can also film in places that you may not be able to reach in reality.

In the past year, filmmaking companies faced many problems, including the difficulty of moving, traveling, and working within large filming locations due to the Corona pandemic. The alternative was to move towards virtual production and work on it, which contributed to achieving many distinguished artistic works: Pioneering Arab companies in the field of Virtual Production - Virtual Production? When talking about such technology, we cannot mention the Arab efforts being made to apply this technology on the ground. The friends at the Moroccan company Virtualistic have a unique experience in the field of virtual production, and you can see an example of their work in the video below: Many filmmakers, including filmmaker Roger Deakins and filmmaker Greg Fraser, believe that during the next ten years there will be a major shift in the field of cinematography towards a greater use of Virtual Production technology, and that we will witness many cinematic works produced entirely on sites. Fake photography is displayed on walls of screens. Here, I would like to point out the mechanism of this technology’s work and how it affects cinematic production, and the way it works to simplify its idea and to pave the way for the upcoming articles to talk more about how to start this field at home.

What is your opinion of this technology and what is its future? Share your opinions with us in the comments below. May you always be creative.