The advent of StageCraft technology and its application has already dazzled the industry and the viewing public, but as the tech gets embedded into the everyday toolbox of VFX experts the world over, the possibilities will skyrocket. It requires smaller soundstages, the capability to be worked on from home, and in these coronavirus inflicted times a safer working environment.
StageCraft is an artificial landscape using the popular game engine Unreal Engine by Epic Games to support the backdrops in creating a reality with practical effects.
That means actors won’t’ have to venture out into the real world and risk exposure, and this eliminates the need for costly, and time-consuming location shoots entirely.
“It’s going to be the wave of the future, no question about it,” Legato said. “And people are really interested in it now [during the lockdown]. It’s hastening acceptance because of the ability to do it and be socially distant still.”
He elaborated, “You don’t need to hop from exotic location to exotic location for a day or two of work. You can plan out your sequence where you don’t have to do that. You can take advantage of the digital backlot, and you can basically replicate what you can get on location. It doesn’t take long to master it if you understand how it works, how to control it, what every set up is, how to light it, and how to color correct it.”
Rob Bredow, executive creative director and head of ILM, said to Indiewire, “There is a global shortage of shooting stages, and that’s not likely to change in the near term. StageCraft allows productions to significantly reduce the number of stages needed concurrently, given the flexible nature of the LED volume. The technology has come at just the right time to help the industry continue to produce quality content despite the challenges we all face.”
Stay tuned to Making Tracks where we will be talking at length with one of the key players behind the VFX of The Mandalorian on the regular show and in a special episode.
