Should Themed Entertainment Media Production Use Virtual Sets aka LED Volumes?

Yes. 

Thanks for reading. 

Kidding, keep reading. 

From a producer/creator’s view, it’s not so much as IF-themed entertainment should use virtual sets, but HOW they’re used to tell stories and transport guests to different worlds.  

You’ve seen virtual sets. They’re used in TV (streaming?) shows you watch. WHAT? It’s true. Go watch this little show called The Mandalorian. Many of the scenes were filmed inside what’s known as a LED volume. It’s a soundstage setup that features hundreds of LED panels attached together to make a seamless video wall.

 It gets better. Industrial Light & Magic used Epic Games Unreal Engine - a gaming engine that updates/renders in near real-time - to deliver a system that synchs the CGI background with camera movement. As the camera follows an actor walking left, the background adjusts, keeping the realism of the scene intact. The parallax moves with the camera. 

Non-animated 3D digital backgrounds solve practical production and creative problems.  

Can’t afford to send a film crew to Tunisia? Make it in an LED Volume. Can’t send your team to Coruscant in the Star Wars universe because it doesn’t exist? LED volume to the rescue! 

As for Themed Entertainment Media, there are a few main media pieces that are used in projects big and small -

Complete CGI - Mickey’s PhilharMagic

CGI with live-action filmed on green screen - Race Through New York with Jimmy Fallon

Live Action Actors and Sets - Dinosaur pre-show

Internal/External Projects - Documentaries, behind-the-scenes

How can these projects use virtual sets?

Complete CGI projects and virtual sets aren’t compatible. You’re building everything on the computer and there is no live-action element to film. 

An LED volume is not the place to film crazy live-action with heavy use of computer graphics. Something like “Fast and Furious: Supercharged” - where actors leap in and out of CGI vehicles and all sorts of crazy stuff in a continuous film - needs the ability to create, crop, cut and insert footage into other elements. 

You could film an actor on a virtual set that interacts with an element to be added later in post. Many shows are already doing that (see The Mandalorian). But your actor can’t leap from rock to rock on your virtual set. Not yet, anyway.

Live Action - THIS is where the LED volume shines. If you have a media scene where actors work against a CGI background (Beatrix and Voldemort on Harry Potter and the Escape from Gringotts) you could film them against the virtual background and add the visual effects after filming.

It can be simpler too. If you’re updating the queue media in Kilimanjaro Safaris, there’s no need to fly to Africa. Create the ideal setting on the computer, then film your actor in the volume. A full wall of LEDs lets you control lighting, so that golden hour look - reflecting off your actor’s face - looks better than filming them on a green screen and then adding lighting effects in post-production

There’s nothing saying that you can only use virtual sets to replicate places. Commercials and music videos are leaning into using virtual sets as huge digital canvases - splashing images, graphics and typography onto massive screens while the performers strut their stuff. 

For internal projects, imagine filming the CEO behind a virtual set that showcases all of the company’s latest projects from around the world. Interview creative directors and engineers behind massive footage of their projects. 

I haven’t even touched on the potential production budget savings of LED volumes. Also, virtual sets flip the pre and post-production timelines, with effects, backgrounds and elements created before filming begins. Fix it in pre! 

You don’t need to go to ILM to film in their StageCraft volume setup (but if you do please consider taking me along). There are companies all over the country setting up LED volumes for filmmakers to use. Orlando alone has APG Media , The Airlot and Vu Network

Virtual sets are tools that can help themed entertainment companies create media that transports guests into new worlds. They help tell emotional stories and create magical moments. We’re just beginning to use this technology. Who knows what we can accomplish 3 years from now? 

I can’t wait to film in an LED volume. 

(cue The Mandalorian theme)

Have you filmed a themed entertainment media piece inside a LED volume? How was it? Do you think LED volumes will become the norm for productions? Let me know your thoughts.