BSC 2023: Sony Exec on Virtual Production Tools

Sony speaks on Crystal LED display technology, Venice cameras, and the role of immersive hardware in audio/visual productions

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BSC 2023: Sony Exec on Virtual Production Tools
Mixed RealityNews Analysis

Published: February 28, 2023

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Rory Greener

Last weekend, the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) held its 2023 expo between the 17 and 18 of February. The event hosted various camera, lighting, and film production solution providers showcasing the latest audio/visual capture equipment.

Extended reality (XR) technology is reaching numerous verticals, from healthcare to education. A new vertical XR tech is hitting the media and broadcast space. Virtual production tools are an emerging discussion point for many audio/visual capture teams.

With virtual production tools, the providers prove that XR technology has different use cases and applications outside of headset and smartphone-based solutions.

What is Virtual Production?

Virtual production solutions are emerging as a new tool for film, media, and broadcast markets. Many industry innovators are leveraging immersive technology to replace or enhance filmmaking techniques, such as backdrops and shooting within moving vehicles.

Virtual production hardware enables on-set staff to leverage immersive solutions, such as high-quality LED walls or volumes, to create realistic environments for actors to perform.

The technology allows media production specialists and heads of departments to save time and money using XR, for example, by displaying real-time 3D (RT3D) environments as an immersive backdrop.

The actors and the camera crew can see a volume display showing an RT3D backdrop that reacts to camera movement to enable a realistic, dynamic, and flexible backdrop solution.

Moreover, other immersive and virtual production tools are available from other industry vendors, ranging from MR Studios to volumetric capture and AR-enhanced broadcasting. Broadcast firms use augmented reality (AR) visualisations as an already popular form of branded-media delivery. Additionally, many sports broadcasting companies are leveraging AR devices to enhance programming.

Sony Volume Stages and Virtual Production Tools

Sony is attempting to get ahead in the virtual production marketplace. The firm produces a premium immersive production ecosystem that leverages Sony’s Crystal LED display technology and Venice camera capture technology to create an RT3D backdrop solution.

The combined hardware solutions leverage the Unreal engine for importing and displaying an immersive environment behind a subject. The volume product and Venice camera system work together to create a dynamic and reactive studio backdrop.

Recently, Sony opened a virtual production studio in Seine Saint Denis, north of Paris, France. The firm established the studio alongside project partners Plateau Virtuel and Studios de France. The move enables film productions to leverage a studio fully kitted with Sony’s virtual production solutions.

The site hosts a 90m² Sony Crystal LED B-series screen fully optimised and ready to deliver unrivalled image quality for producers and cinematographers.

At the time, Yasuharu Nomura, General Manager and VP of the Business Department at Sony Corporation, said:

We are the only company in the world to supply LED panels and cinema cameras. We know each technical specification and know how to best use it. In order to maximize the potential of these two solutions, the engineering teams developed and designed each of them in close collaboration.

Moreover, the collaboration between the three firms includes establishing a “laboratory” studio that promotes audio/visual technology innovation.

Content Acquisition Solutions Specialist Daniel Listh spoke with XR Today at the BSC Expo 2023 to introduce Sony’s virtual production ecosystem and the influence of immersive tech on film, media, and broadcast production solutions.

Introducing Sony’s XR Film Production Ecosystem. 

Daniel Listh: We are definitely, as a Sony brand, not one of the cheapest in the markets, especially when it comes to our current lineup of display technology. 

But what we do is we give you a premium product. We offer pixel pitches that are very low. A pixel pitch of 1.2 or 1.5 is incredibly low when it comes to building a volume that is so modular. 

We have colour accuracy that goes through the display, but it also goes through the camera capture as well, which gives harmony between people seeing the screen and also being able to capture exactly what’s seen with the eyes.  

It looks identical on the camera as well, so you don’t need to modify the colour contrast in post[-production] too much because everything is done and believable on set.

Because you have a small pixel pitch, sets can be much smaller, which means that people can have a smaller studio and join in on virtual production services.

You don’t need to have, I like to say, a giant volume where you can put in spaceships. You don’t need to have that with our solutions, you can actually go for something that’s much fundamentally smaller, and you can get closer to the subject because a 1.5 or 1.2-pixel pitch means that you can get much closer to the screen before you get some of the artefacts you normally want to avoid when doing in-camera VFX. 

A Flexible Solution and Audio/Visual Production Ecosystem

Daniel Listh: It is a very flexible solution, but it is also a solution where you need to be cautious of your investment because if you want to have a giant volume, then our system is very expensive. 

Obviously, if you talk to us, we can find an ideal solution. We know that we are not the cheapest in the market today, but we do also know that we we have some of the highest technology available. 

By going for something that’s more expensive, you’ll have less things to worry about, and you’ll have a more pleasant customer journey in general. 

Reflecting on Customer Feedback 

Daniel Listh: With virtual production, especially in camera VFX, people tend to see the benefits or see the “wow-ness” when you step into a volume. You can be amazed quite quickly by how big and oppressive it is.  

For your workflow and for the director or the actor, everybody needs to understand this, and it’s quite difficult to get everybody on the same page immediately.

It [onboarding] might need to be repeated a couple of times before the penny drops for everybody, and that’s a really difficult thing to do, especially when you want to have an investor involved. 

Should my CFO understand this, and how can I get my CFO to understand the value it brings to production? So, explain it in a way that everybody understands, even those who are not technical, because it is a very expensive way to go, especially if you get it wrong. 

How can Virtual Production Technology Change the Film and Broadcast Industry? 

Daniel Listh: You can use some of our smaller cameras and start working on virtual productions, being much more creative and getting some unique opportunities that you couldn’t do before. 

We have cameras that are very affordable and have similar tools that you would expect in a full flagship Venice camera.  

People are very creative. It’s all about getting the right tools in their hands so they can have a project where they can show how creative they are and get recognition. 

The technology is getting more aware of how to be flexible without having a lot of money.

But also, we have an automation process. We’ve been using AI as well to generate content, and it’s very interesting to see where that goes, I don’t know exactly where it’s going, but it seems to be going in a very interesting place. 

Once we identify where the gaps are, we can target them, and we can fix them. For some such cases, we’ll talk about firmware engineering, software engineering, doing a firmware update, and then people have equipment from us which will be different from version one to version 2. 

Other things need new hardware, and we’re very excited to see what will come in future based on customer feedback, findings, and how we can improve with future hardware.

So limitations today are possibilities in the future. 

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