From: cleoabram
The methods for creating movies have undergone a significant transformation, with technology rapidly advancing in complexity and realism [00:00:22]. This shift isn’t confined to Hollywood; even YouTube videos can now blur the lines between what’s real and what’s not [00:00:28]. The traditional rules of media creation are being rewritten, allowing for unprecedented creative freedom [00:00:46]. This article explores three key technological advancements that are making high-end film techniques more accessible to a wider range of creators [00:00:57].
XR Stage Technology
The first significant advancement is the XR stage, an evolution of green screen technology [00:01:22].
- Functionality: An XR stage is a massive LED wall that can display any desired background [00:01:28]. Unlike older “rear projection” techniques where backgrounds were static 2D images [00:02:09], an XR stage creates a live virtual world [00:02:34]. This virtual background dynamically matches camera movements, replicating “motion parallax”—the natural shift in speed of objects closer versus farther away—making the scene look realistic [00:02:37]. Special gadgets on top of cameras provide position information, allowing the LED wall to adjust perfectly [00:03:22].
- Advantages over Green Screen:
- Eliminates Spill: Traditional green or blue screens often create unwanted color reflections (“spill”) on actors or props, especially on shiny surfaces, which is difficult to remove in post-production [00:03:37]. An XR stage produces correct lighting and reflections during shooting, eliminating this problem [00:04:02].
- Real-world Application: Disney’s The Mandalorian famously uses an XR stage called “The Volume” to achieve realistic reflections on characters like Mando’s reflective armor [00:04:24]. Without it, the armor would likely need to be replaced with computer-generated (CG) armor [00:04:31].
- Cost and Time Efficiency: The ability to quickly change virtual backgrounds (e.g., time of day) makes productions cheaper and faster [00:05:39]. For The Mandalorian, instead of 15-25 standing sets, only three physical locations were used, with the LED Volume loading different sets throughout the season [00:05:44].
- Multi-Camera Capabilities: XR stages can display different scenes to different cameras simultaneously. A wall refreshing at 120 frames per second allows two cameras to capture alternating 60 FPS streams, each seeing a unique background [00:06:29]. This technology can support up to six cameras, each filming at 30 FPS and seeing a different scene with correct reflections [00:07:26].
Motion Capture Technology
Motion capture (or performance capture) involves wearing suits with tracking markers to map human movement onto digital characters [00:08:03]. This technology has been a staple in major films like Avatar, Planet of the Apes, and Lord of the Rings [00:08:15].
- Process: Suits with numerous tracking orbs (e.g., 60 independent tracking orbs) are tracked by multiple cameras [00:08:13]. This allows mapping every movement to any digital character, including scanned digital versions of oneself [00:08:26].
- Realism: For optimal realism, capturing the “truest form of motion” is crucial [00:10:03]. This is why actors in Avatar 2 were filmed underwater for underwater scenes, as physical interaction with the environment provides that essential 10% of convincing realism [00:09:31].
- Increasing Accessibility: While once a Hollywood-only technique, this technology is becoming more accessible. Advanced motion capture setups can even be done with an iPhone [00:10:27]. The trend for tech advancements is not only a higher ceiling but also greater accessibility to more people [00:10:32].
- Implications of Digital Doubles: The increased accessibility of motion capture and 3D scanning raises complex questions about digital doubles:
- Intellectual Property: As photo-realistic digital doubles become possible, an actor’s intellectual property (IP) of their face or likeness could extend their career beyond retirement or even after death [00:11:23].
- Creative Control: A musician could be scanned, and their choreographer could dance as them in a music video, raising questions about authorship [00:11:33].
- Authenticity: If an actor’s digital likeness can be used with another person performing the movements, it challenges traditional notions of acting authenticity [00:12:01].
- Career Extension: Actors might use digital doubles to appear younger, potentially extending their careers, but this also touches on sensitive issues like societal pressures around aging [00:12:44].
Volumetric Video Capture
The third tool discussed is volumetric video capture, which represents a significant step towards real-time, accessible 3D content creation [00:13:18].
- Functionality: By positioning cameras around a subject, volumetric video creates a real-time 3D hologram [00:13:22]. This allows the viewer to move themselves and the camera anywhere within the scene [00:13:25]. Unlike motion capture, no special suit or prior scanning is needed; simply stepping into the capture volume transforms a person into a 3D hologram [00:13:27]. A demo used six cameras to stitch together a real-time 3D experience [00:13:35].
- Future of Video: This technology adds a new dimension of interactivity compared to flat 360-degree video [00:14:33]. It allows for first-person views where the viewer can virtually hold objects and explore spaces with true freedom of movement, unlike 360 video where camera movement is fixed [00:14:02]. This could revolutionize how creators make videos, allowing them to “beam in and out of places” [00:13:49].
The Future of Storytelling
Fifty years ago, creating personal video content was unthinkable [00:14:46]. Looking ahead, the future of video creation promises to be even more open to creativity, with advances in video tech enabling creators to tell stories that were previously impossible, at significantly lower costs and faster paces [00:15:04]. The focus is not on the complexity of the technology, but on its application and the new stories it enables [00:15:21]. Many stories remain unexplored, ripe for the existing and emerging technologies [00:15:26].