Virtual Production: Real-Time Rendering Pipelines for Indie Studios and the Potential in Different Scenarios

[EN] This work aims to identify and propose a functional pipeline for indie live-action films using Virtual Production with photorealistic real-time rendering game engines. The new production landscape is radically changing how movies and shows are made. Those were made in a linear pipeline, and now filmmakers can execute multiple tasks in a parallel mode using real-time renderers with high potential for different types of productions. Four interviews of professionals in the Spanish film and television market were conducted to obtain the whole perspective of the new paradigm. Following those examples, a virtual production set was implemented with an Antilatency tracking system, Unreal Engine (version 5.3), and Aximmetry (version 2023.3.2) as the leading software applications. Results are commented on, presenting how all the work is currently closely connected between pre-production, shooting, and post-production and analyzing its potential in different fields.Spanish Government (Grant PID2020-117421RB-C21 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and Generalitat Valenciana (Grant INVEST/2022/324).Silva Jasaui, D.; Martí Testón, A.; Muñoz García, A.; Moriniello, F.; Solanes, JE.; Gracia Calandin, LI. (2024). Virtual Production: Real-Time Rendering Pipelines for Indie Studios and the Potential in Different Scenarios. Applied Sciences. 14(6). https://doi.org/10.3390/app1406253014

AR-MoCap: Using augmented reality to support motion capture acting

Technology is disrupting the way films involving visual effects are produced. Chroma-key, LED walls, motion capture (mocap), 3D visual storyboards, and simulcams are only a few examples of the many changes introduced in the cinema industry over the last years. Although these technologies are getting commonplace, they are presenting new, unexplored challenges to the actors. In particular, when mocap is used to record the actors’ movements with the aim of animating digital character models, an increase in the workload can be easily expected for people on stage. In fact, actors have to largely rely on their imagination to understand what the digitally created characters will be actually seeing and feeling. This paper focuses on this specific domain, and aims to demonstrate how Augmented Reality (AR) can be helpful for actors when shooting mocap scenes. To this purpose, we devised a system named AR-MoCap that can be used by actors for rehearsing the scene in AR on the real set before actually shooting it. Through an Optical See-Through Head- Mounted Display (OST-HMD), an actor can see, e.g., the digital characters of other actors wearing mocap suits overlapped in real- time to their bodies. Experimental results showed that, compared to the traditional approach based on physical props and other cues, the devised system can help the actors to position themselves and direct their gaze while shooting the scene, while also improving spatial and social presence, as well as perceived effectiveness

The pre-production phase in the making of Iranian full-length animated films 1979-2012

As the pre-production phase is a vital process in feature-length animation filmmaking, this study focuses on the arrangement of this phase in Iranian animation film projects. They are Mouse and Cat, Tak Taz, Namaki & The Giant, The Sun of Egypt, Jamshid & Khorshid, Simorq’s Heart and Tehran 2121. In support of the investigation of these, the research reviews the background of Iranian cinema, television and animation. It looks also at the emergence and evolution of the pre-production phase in Disney and Pixar studios. Moreover, comparisons of pre-production phases implemented by Japanese, British and Pixar filmmakers are complementary contexts highlighting this process. It comprises four key stages: writing stages e.g. script; visualization stages e.g. concept design; scene setting e.g. storyboard, and a rough version of a film in the form of a story reel (Yun Mou et al, 2013). Implementation of these stages needs strategies to be employed by successful filmmakers. Based on such facts, a theoretical comparison analyses the arrangement of the pre-production phase in the seven projects. The findings indicate two types of factors affecting the arrangement of this phase. Indirect factors such as the dependency on management by government and its financial support constitutes issues influencing productions. Direct factors include filmmakers’ abilities and their direct actions on production

Augmented Reality as a Potential Tool for Filmmaking

Augmented Reality (AR) has been used for a wide variety of industries. The purpose of this study was to determine the suitability of this technology for use in filmmaking. One of the problems on a film set is the time taken to block a scene. Blocking involves the placement of subjects and props within a scene. Different ideas have been used for blocking including previzualisation and Virtual Reality (VR). This study proposesed the use of AR as a tool to solve this problem. Marker-based and Markerless AR were assessed in turn to determine their suitability for addressing the problem. The use of AR markers and QR codes were examined in comparison with the use of Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) imple mentations. The marker-based AR requires a physical object to scan and markerless is done via the mapping of GPS coordinates. Experiments were conducted on the accu racy and code required for each type of AR. These involved calculating the distances from the marker and the code required to create the virtual content. Surveys and expert interviews were conducted with filmakers and people working in the AR industry to determine the usability and feasibility of the proposed application. This provided a qualitative approach to the technology as the acceptance of any new system is of equal importance to how it functions

Vernacular Posthumanism: Visual Culture and Material Imagination

Vernacular Posthumanism: Visual Culture and Material Imagination uses a theory of image vernaculars in order to explore the ways in which contemporary visual culture both reflects on and constructs 21st century cultural attitudes toward the human and the nonhuman. This project argues that visual culture manifests a vernacular posthumanism that expresses a fundamental contradiction: the desire to transcend the human while at the same time reasserting the importance of the flesh and the materiality of lived experience. This contradiction is based in a biodeterminist desire, one that fantasizes about reducing all actants, both human and nonhuman, to functions of code. Within this framework, actants become fundamentally exchangeable, able to be combined, manipulated, and understood as variations of digital code. Visual culture – and its expression of vernacular posthumanism – thus functions as a reflection on contemporary conceptualizations of the human, a rehearsal of the posthuman, and a staging ground for encounters between the human and the nonhuman. Each chapter of this project begins in the field of film studies and then moves out toward a broader analysis of visual culture and nonhumanist theory. This project relies on the theories and methodologies of phenomenology, materialism, posthumanism, object-oriented ontology, actor-network theory, film and media studies, and visual culture studies. Visual objects analyzed include: the films of Stanley Kubrick, David Cronenberg, and Krzysztof Kieślowski; Fast, Cheap & Out of Control (1997); the film 300 (2006); the TV series Planet Earth (2006); DNA portraits, the art of Damien Hirst; Body Worlds; human migration maps; and remote surgical machinery

Full Body Acting Rehearsal in a Networked Virtual Environment-A Case Study

In order to rehearse for a play or a scene from a movie, it is generally required that the actors are physically present at the same time in the same place. In this paper we present an example and experience of a full body motion shared virtual environment (SVE) for rehearsal. The system allows actors and directors to meet in an SVE in order to rehearse scenes for a play or a movie, that is, to perform some dialogue and blocking (positions, movements, and displacements of actors in the scene) rehearsal through a full body interactive virtual reality (VR) system. The system combines immersive VR rendering techniques as well as network capabilities together with full body tracking. Two actors and a director rehearsed from separate locations. One actor and the director were in London (located in separate rooms) while the second actor was in Barcelona. The Barcelona actor used a wide field-of-view head-tracked head-mounted display, and wore a body suit for real-time motion capture and display. The London actor was in a Cave system, with head and partial body tracking. Each actor was presented to the other as an avatar in the shared virtual environment, and the director could see the whole scenario on a desktop display, and intervene by voice commands. A video stream in a window displayed in the virtual environment also represented the director. The London participant was a professional actor, who afterward commented on the utility of the system for acting rehearsal. It was concluded that full body tracking and corresponding real-time display of all the actors' movements would be a critical requirement, and that blocking was possible down to the level of detail of gestures. Details of the implementation, actors, and director experiences are provided

Coraline

Coraline (Henry Selick, 2009) is stop-motion studio LAIKA's feature-length debut based on the popular children's novel by British author Neil Gaiman. Heralding a revival in global interest in stop-motion animation, the film is both an international cultural phenomenon and a breakthrough moment in the technological evolution of the craft. This open access collection brings together an international group of practitioners and scholars to examine Coraline’s place in animation history and culture, dissect its politics, and unpack its role in the technological and aesthetic development of its medium. More broadly, it celebrates stop motion as a unique and enduring artform while embracing its capacity to evolve in response to cultural, political, and technological changes, as well as shifting critical and audience demands. Divided into three sections, this volume’s chapters situate Coraline within an interconnected network of historical, industrial, discursive, theoretical, and cultural contexts. They place the film in conversation with the medium’s aesthetic and technological history, broader global intellectual and political traditions, and questions of animation reception and spectatorship. In doing so, they invite recognition – and appreciation – of the fact that Coraline occupies many liminal spaces at once. It straddles the boundary between children’s entertainment and traditional ‘adult’ genres, such as horror and thriller. It complicates a seemingly straight(forward) depiction of normative family life with gestures of queer resistance. Finally, it marks a pivotal point in stop-motion animation’s digital turn. Following the film’s recent tenth anniversary, the time is right to revisit its production history, evaluate its cultural and industry impact, and celebrate its legacy as contemporary stop-motion cinema’s gifted child. As the first book-length academic study of this contemporary animation classic, this volume serves as an authoritative introduction and a primary reference on the film for scholars, students, practitioners, and animation fans. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com

Coraline

Coraline (Henry Selick, 2009) is stop-motion studio LAIKA's feature-length debut based on the popular children's novel by British author Neil Gaiman. Heralding a revival in global interest in stop-motion animation, the film is both an international cultural phenomenon and a breakthrough moment in the technological evolution of the craft. This open access collection brings together an international group of practitioners and scholars to examine Coraline’s place in animation history and culture, dissect its politics, and unpack its role in the technological and aesthetic development of its medium. More broadly, it celebrates stop motion as a unique and enduring artform while embracing its capacity to evolve in response to cultural, political, and technological changes, as well as shifting critical and audience demands. Divided into three sections, this volume’s chapters situate Coraline within an interconnected network of historical, industrial, discursive, theoretical, and cultural contexts. They place the film in conversation with the medium’s aesthetic and technological history, broader global intellectual and political traditions, and questions of animation reception and spectatorship. In doing so, they invite recognition – and appreciation – of the fact that Coraline occupies many liminal spaces at once. It straddles the boundary between children’s entertainment and traditional ‘adult’ genres, such as horror and thriller. It complicates a seemingly straight(forward) depiction of normative family life with gestures of queer resistance. Finally, it marks a pivotal point in stop-motion animation’s digital turn. Following the film’s recent tenth anniversary, the time is right to revisit its production history, evaluate its cultural and industry impact, and celebrate its legacy as contemporary stop-motion cinema’s gifted child. As the first book-length academic study of this contemporary animation classic, this volume serves as an authoritative introduction and a primary reference on the film for scholars, students, practitioners, and animation fans. The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com

Mr. Perfect

This graduate thesis film, Mr. Perfect is a 21-minute feature film. As the progress of economic, science and education in modern society, women\u27s lives are changing. Their become to be more ambitious in career; they started to try different ways of division of work in family; they get higher vision for life, especially for marriage. However, in such a fast-paced, multi-tasked, high-pressure, and high-energy environment, successful businesswomen become very tired and begin to lose themselves in the life of substance and money unconsciously. Under certain situations, a great number of them still remain single to an old age after achieving their materialistic goals. This story is about a successful woman, a typical example, but even more than that, a narrative film, which shows her outlook on life and sense of values. The film was shot in HD format using DSLR camera, Canon 5D Mark II, edited in Adobe Premiere Pro CC and Pro Tools. This paper discusses the whole production processes, goals, and the actual legwork from its original conceptions to the film\u27s first official screening at RIT