VFX Sets are the Future ?

Of course the best darn choice would be light field video as demonstrated years ago with the Lytro digital cinema demonstration before Google bought it for who knows what kind of emoji or video chat filter they’ll want to use it for down the line. Until then, this looks like the de facto choice for quick digital set work. I agree that traditional green screen still offers the best choice as this does lock you in but there’s no denying the ease of use if you have to recreate a shot or a whole scene in a location you may not have access to anymore or if at all in case of prohibited famous locations and landmarks. I am certainly eager to see this develop further, especially if brightness can be increased and adjusted for even more control.
 
Super cool technology and paves the way for things that would not have been possible before. And, Mandalorian looks much better than the prequels.

That said, I didn't know this tech was used but personally didn't love the resulting look of the Mando series, partly because it looked sterile and empty, and partly because much of it looked digital and pasted on. This explains that... they were shooting a ton of stuff flatter because of this.

I'm glad to see they started implementing more real sets. Clearly Star Wars is especially difficult because it's not set in the real world and to give it a sense of scale you need this sort of technology... I do hope the use of it gets more mature. Not trying to be negative as I realize this tech is making what was impossible, possible.

Still, they had 15 million per episode (120 million for the season) and the show had a "cheaper" look to it than most AAA movies even though it had a very large budget (I mean, Ghost in the Shell cost 110 million and looks epic even though it's mostly digital. Alita had a 170 million budget which, obviously, is 50% higher... but that movie was pushing the envelope on FX and was insanely good looking and sounding... it feels categorically different than Mando).

Was hoping with the high $$$ poured into the project - and the fact that Disney is focusing on streaming the next half decade of Star Wars content - that it would look and feel closer to the main cinema production budgets.

Point is... I think this tech is *awesome*, but clearly still in its infancy, and I do hope for season 2 they focus on it as just one tool among many. More real sets mixed in (like they started doing later in the season) would go a long way in making the world feel real and 3D. I think their comment about even shooting interiors with the technology is a little... over excited about it. It's the 2020 equivalent of shooting actors against paintings.
 
Thomas Smet said:
Plus whatever gets shot is it. No room for creative changes later in post. Thats where green screen is still a better choice. You can tweak the shot where a lot more creative choices can be made in regards to how the rest of the movie is fitting together. I don't always want to be locked in to whatever was decided six months ago in pre production.
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I was thinking the same thing. From the first video posted it seems they have an option to do both. So you could view the shot from a director view finder with the background, and record the tracked/matching background for easy syncing in post, but still maintain access to a green screen version. Of course, the actors lose the ability to see the set in this version, but I'd think you could run through everything with the digital set projected, get them into the moment, and then switch it off for the actual takes (with the memory and placement still fresh in their minds). Would make the process on set much easier.

Now, what would be really cool is if the technology could be programmed in such a way so as to display the digital set for everyone during recording, and record a duplicate copy with a green screen background (i.e. the software would pixel cancel whatever was being rendered and replace with green for a dup. recording). Given how much this is going to get used I'm sure a lot of innovation will occur.
 
filmguy123 said:
I was thinking the same thing. From the first video posted it seems they have an option to do both. So you could view the shot from a director view finder with the background, and record the tracked/matching background for easy syncing in post, but still maintain access to a green screen version. Of course, the actors lose the ability to see the set in this version, but I'd think you could run through everything with the digital set projected, get them into the moment, and then switch it off for the actual takes (with the memory and placement still fresh in their minds). Would make the process on set much easier.

Now, what would be really cool is if the technology could be programmed in such a way so as to display the digital set for everyone during recording, and record a duplicate copy with a green screen background (i.e. the software would pixel cancel whatever was being rendered and replace with green for a dup. recording). Given how much this is going to get used I'm sure a lot of innovation will occur.
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Or if it could cycle fast enough and be synced to the cameras to flash the image up between frames and green during recording frames. There was a laser marking system that did just that. It was synced to the camera shutter to cycle on/off and projected the marks so that the actors, crew, etc. could see them, but flashed off during exposure.

Or maybe explore some sort of polarization system so that the camera sees one thing and people see another.

I think the tech is there, it just needs to be implemented.
 
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