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Virtual Production (VP) in the film and TV industries continues gaining traction, but the cost of using VP remains high and talent with VP experience and training is limited, finds a new Altman Solon report. The result is that creative crews may still be skeptical about incorporating its various uses into their productions. There is also a lack of sophisticated data analysis necessary to make the case for Virtual Production.
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The consultancy’s 2022
Global Film & Video Production Report highlights VP as a growing
trend in the industry, driven by the need for virtual and collaborative tools
to lower production costs, improve timelines, and overcome the limitations of
physical production sets.
It surveyed of over 100 industry experts with more than
three years of experience in VP and found that Motion Capture was the
most popular VP technology, with 50% reporting they or their team have used it over the past 12 months.
The second most
popular tool, Cloud-based Editing (48%), has gained favor among production
staff because it enables remote
collaboration. Three quarters
of respondents identified Virtual Scouting as a tool that saves money and shortens timelines. Newer technologies like In-Camera VFX (42%)
and Virtual Scouting (39%) have lower adoption rates.
Despite the
popularity and effectiveness of certain tools, widespread adoption is limited
to specific projects where VP is
easily applicable - often
projects that require many filming
locations or sci-fi/fantasy productions.
For a small
production, the survey found that
savings in travel budget can make a VP project more economically
viable.
“While medium
and small stages exist, producers of
mid-tier content often lack the readiness and experience to shoot on a Tier 2 or medium stage, and
one-off shoots don’t reap the benefits of shooting multiple episodes or seasons on a stage.”
There some 84 VP
stages in the US and another 40
in the UK however this number also includes smaller ’xR stages’ used mainly for music videos or commercials, not shows or films.
The report suggests
that smaller production studios with limited resources won’t be able to afford a larger stage and may opt for
traditional shooting methods or
green screens, rendering LED volumes less relevant for the mid- to low-budget
markets.
Talent shortage
Because Virtual Production is still an emerging technology, there is a shortage of talent with ‘hands-on’ experience in the industry, creating staffing challenges for production studios. Additionally, the broader industry has historically lacked diversity in terms of race and gender, creating a talent funnel issue when trying to hire candidates of diverse backgrounds for VP-specific roles.
Instead, most respondents are now looking for candidates in
adjacent industries like gaming, AR/VR, animation, automotive and transport,
and architecture, among others, and through on-campus recruitment to find
candidates with the necessary technical skills. Candidates from industries that
use real-time gaming technology and are familiar with the workflows are
desirable for VP roles.
“Virtual production is the future of global filmmaking but
how and when it maximizes its potential will be determined by the industry’s
ability to attract talent to this new field,” said Altman Solon Director Derek
Powell. “It’s clear that the networking-heavy approach used in Hollywood for
generations will not deliver the VP workforce needed now and in the future. The
good news is that studios are employing new and creative recruiting techniques,
including better outreach to candidates with diverse backgrounds.”
VP as Part of a Data-Driven Strategy
As a result of VP, studios now have more access to data, opening the opportunity to gather data across the production process and run analytics to uncover insights for more informed decision-making.
That’s a change,
since historically, production studios didn’t collect technical production
data. VP can be used to collect and
leverage production data that
identifies possible efficiencies (for example, using lens metadata and lighting
parameters defined in the gaming engine to make corrections in
post-production). According to the report, there is potential for productions to use VP data to automate
processes in post-production that
in the past were done with
creative teams, thus saving time and money.
However, while VP tools enable great collection of data
versus traditional production methods, production teams hit roadblocks when
collecting it. According to the
survey, the top three limitations to
collecting data are “lack of business intelligence strategy” (62%), “lack of business intelligence
impact” (49%), and “lack of training and execution” (45%).
“All these
inhibitors are characteristic of organizations with immature business
intelligence and data
strategies,” finds the consultancy – which would no doubt offer its
services to assist in this regard. “This indicates that while production teams
have the tools to gather and analyze data, they are still nascent in this area
and slowly transitioning to be more data-driven.”
This matters most
when budget forecasting, which was the top data-usage focus of VP executives
surveyed. Altman Solon says: “In
traditional productions, variables associated with set design, shooting,
travel, and logistics can change greatly when a shooting location needs to change or if a scene needs to be reshot,
which can include bringing talent and crews back to a location. For these reasons, using data to improve budget
forecasting was the top-ranked selection
in the survey.”
Other issues highlighted in the report
Currently, there
are no standard VP processes,
and each production has its own unique process structure. Data security is also
a concern for half the respondents,
largely due to the use of cloud-based tools, which some users
perceive as having weaker security controls than on-premises solutions.
Similarly, just under 50% of
respondents expressed concern over the potential for customizable workflow
configurations since cloud-based tools
have fewer customization capabilities.
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