NAB
We’ve only just scratched the surface of how to use light from virtual production displays, says Sam Nicholson, founder and CEO of Stargate Studios.
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Lighting the scene using LED screens is a big top of discussion in the
unions right now, he says. Because it is technology that is neither designed as
a light but is not purely a screen since scenes can be illuminated with it.
“I’m not going to take sides in that argument. But that’s something that
we’re dealing with both playback and lighting right now, and trying to define
them. It’s a new technology that’s right in between, nobody knows what to do
with it.”
Nicholson is one of Hollywood’s leading virtual production and visual
effects creatives. With nearly forty years as a visual effects supervisor, DP,
director, and now virtual production supervisor, Nicholson and his company,
Stargate Studios, have combined the latest in LED technology with their
proprietary “ThruView” lighting system.
Interviewed
at the 2023 NAB Show by Erik Weaver, director of ETC’s Adaptive
Production project, Nicholson explained that VP is the process of capturing the
real world and making it usable in such a way that it’ll play back in a volume.
“Virtual production is fabulous. [But] if you can afford to go to Rome
to shoot live action, and get some great pasta, and have a great time, you
know, go to Rome. If you can’t, then send a small team to capture Rome, the
Vatican, and bring the data back [to your volume], and now you can control the
situation.”
In his
presentation, Nicholson talked about his journey with creating in-camera VFX,
including working with legendary Doug Trumbull on Star Trek: The Motion
Picture. He described creating the effect of a 60-foot high column of light
shot in-camera and in real time on stage for director Robert Wise.
He worked through the green screen period, which he described as one
where “basically the crew would get a lobotomy going in. Nobody knows what it’s
going to look like. How do you light it? How do you light for daylight if you
can’t see daylight behind me? Where’s the sun? Green screen was very messy,
because all the actors didn’t know which way to look. Really bad for the actors
and very difficult for a director of photography, and very frustrating for the
director.”
He later
worked on the groundbreaking TV series 24, elements of which were
shot on green screen.
“It was kind of a game changer, because all of a sudden, they said it’s
a lot cheaper to bring the location to the actors than taking the actors to the
location. It’s very difficult to shoot in Washington DC. when you’ve got to get
a permit from one [multiple] groups to shoot anywhere.
“With green screen the actors didn’t have to be out all night. But
dammit, we hate being on green screen. I mean, we had Kiefer Sutherland, like,
walk off the set because he hated shooting on green.”
Virtual production solves a lot of these problems, giving actors a cue
as to the environment they are in. But it is still very early days in the
technology’s development.
Covering dialogue scenes with a shallow depth of field on a longer lens
is ideal, but the wider the lens the more difficult it gets.
In addition, and perhaps the biggest challenge, is that virtual
production isn’t as flexible as you might be led to believe. If a director
changes their mind about a shot after the event it remains difficult to fix
that shot with all the backgrounds baked-in in post.
“If you have a director who doesn’t know what they want or you’re on a
short prep schedule, don’t try to do virtual production because you’ll get
burned. Be really aware that you don’t have an alpha channel. There is no
matte. So you’re gonna wind up with a big old rotoscoping bill if you change
your mind.”
His advice? Prep, prep and prep. “Virtual production is not a panacea.
It’s a great new tool that does certain things like reflective objects really
well. But it does other things horribly, like changing your mind.”
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