What does virtual production consist of?
It is simple to explain. It’s shooting with a chroma key background, but with the difference that you see in real time how the background is integrated into the 3D scene even when moving the camera in all directions.
That is, while you are shooting you can move the camera and see how the real part of the image is integrated with the virtual part. And not only that, you can also adjust the lights and any element of the 3D scene in real time, seeing instantly how it affects the whole scene with the real characters and elements.
The system is compatible with any camera, including Arri Alexa, Red and Sony, lenses included.
The software used is called Unreal Engine, and with its new version 5.0, it achieves photorealistic sets in which, with good lighting, it is hard to tell what is real from what is not.
Our first 100% virtual production spot
We had heard about this system but no one had tested it in Barcelona yet, let alone to produce 100% of a TV spot.
After a study of the advantages and disadvantages of the system, we came to the conclusion that it was the perfect opportunity to launch ourselves with this new technology. One of the main reasons was that doing the same project with real locations would have increased the cost enormously. In addition, the creative freedom that this system gave us was enormous since we could create the rooms we wanted.
We teamed up with MediaPro’s virtual production team, the BBDO agency and the client ColaCao and designed the project shot by shot and scene by scene.
Led by director Andrea Bielsa and the entire production and postproduction teams from Glassy, we brought to life one of the first commercials shot 100% through virtual production in Barcelona.
In this short making-of video you can see how we did it.
