see – it ’ s so obvious that we generally don ’ t tend not to talk about it – is driving plates . So , people in cars are a complete nightmare to shoot . Whether you ’ re using a process trailer or if you ’ re using a green screen , it ’ s a very specific look . Everybody knows the look of a two guys driving on green screen . It is what it is and it ’ s looked that way for many , many years .
So now , you ’ re able to have the lighting from the background reflect and travel across the hood of the car . If you go in front of a building , the lighting on the actors changes . And so , you ’ re creating a very convincing illusion where these two worlds are married . It ’ s really exemplified in driving plates and car comps , which I think benefit so enormously from an approach like this .
The only other real solution for that was to use a process trailer where the director is either as on a walkie , and that ’ s never that great , or they ’ re lying down in the backseat being like , [ mumbles ] “ Okay , let ’ s try it again .”
So , this just offers a super-fast , super-efficient , really highly-polished look that ’ s enjoyable to shoot in . And when you ’ re doing it on a soundstage , you don ’ t have to worry about the weather , you don ’ t have to worry about clouds rolling in , or continuity or unexpected traffic . A car works great for this because of the reflective , glossy surfaces . But anytime we ’ re doing stuff like , let ’ s say , you ’ ve done a wet down on the ground and there ’ s puddles and they ’ re reflecting the wall , or someone ’ s drinking a glass of water and you ’ re seeing the background through the glass of water . These are very challenging things to do with the green screen [ in post-production ] when you ’ re dealing with refractions , reflections , and things like that . You get them all for free when you ’ re shooting on a volume and it helps marry the practical set and the virtual world . It helps you marry them and create a very convincing illusion .
PL & P : Lastly , in terms of software , whether it ’ s Unreal or DaVinci or the other options , what ’ s your preference ?
Hanrahan : I ’ m a big Unreal fan . I ’ ve been using them for many , many years . I love the software , but I also I love the approach that that company has taken . Epic invests a lot in education and giving back to the community and really trying to push the tech .
It ’ s all well and good for us to work on the multimillion-dollar-an-episode projects , but to democratize it and make it very accessible to tier B , tier C , tier D shows , these are often the shows that stand to benefit the most . If you ’ re shooting a show with a $ 10-million-per-episode budget and you need to go to a desert ; well , you can probably go to the desert . If you ’ re shooting a $ 2 million feature , you ’ re not going to the desert . And so , what alternatives are there ? Well , maybe you can go down the street to an LED volume . So , there ’ s a lot of value for these smaller shows and Epic has been championing this a lot . Their software , obviously , for linear content , it ’ s free . So , they kind of understand that as they help develop the business and market .
So , I ’ m a big fan of that . But of course , all these guys are doing really great work . I don ’ t think any one source is ever going to come up with all the right answers and all the right workflows . It ’ s such a nascent technology and you have Unity , the main competitor to Unreal , which purchased Weta [ Digital ], which is one of the premier VFX studios on the planet . And so , I ’ m expecting huge things out of that partnership and think it ’ s all just going to benefit everybody .
PL & P : At the beginning you ’ d mentioned The Mandalorian . Do you know why that became the big-budget case study for virtual production using LED volumes ?
Hanrahan : I think there ’ s a number of things that went into that decision . I think one of the most obvious reasons why the LED volume works so incredibly well for that show goes back to when we talked
PHOTO : COURTESY OF . WILLIAM F . WHITE
WILLIAM F . WHITE ’ S 270-DEGREE LED VOLUME
about a glass of water and reflections and refractions . Mando , the main character , is basically a chrome sphere . He ’ s highly reflective . If there was green screen surrounding him , they would have changed his costume . It just wouldn ’ t have been feasible to make that show with a green screen .
Those are some of the benefits that aren ’ t immediately obvious with volume work , where it ’ s opening up doors for the costume designer . You know , we don ’ t really put people in sequined dresses in front of green screens for a reason , but now you can . Or on Star Trek , the show was about visiting different planets , but visiting planets is very expensive . And so , the writers knew this and they had limits on how many planets they could visit in a given episode or season . But visiting planets on it LED volume is a lot less expensive . You can actually see how the writing adapted as they realized that they had a little bit more freedom , a little bit more space they could operate in .
I wouldn ’ t have expected the costume designers or the writers to care about LED volumes until I kind of saw this unfolding . I was like , “ Oh , these guys are starting to realize that they ’ ve got a little bit more freedom to play ” and that ’ s really cool .
PL & P : Edward , thanks a lot for taking the time to chat and teaching us about this new frontier in filmmaking . In closing , any last key points on the subject of lighting and LED volumes that folk should be aware of ?
Hanrahan : I think we covered a lot of really great topics . Some of the things that I spend a lot of time explaining to people about virtual production are obviously that it ’ s a very new workflow . The more time and the sooner you commit to it in a production process , the more benefits you ’ re going to be able to extract out of it . That ’ s just a matter of industry knowledge and how widespread it is . As people become more familiar with it , I think that timeline will shorten . But currently , I would always recommend people give themselves plenty of lead time and always get your team in there a few days early to play and fool around with the equipment so that you ’ re not trying to show up day one and also figure out the tech .
Michael Raine is the Editor-in-Chief of Professional Lighting & Production .
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