Advertisement
Cinema
TechTech Trends

China eyes ‘virtual production’ technique used in The Mandalorian to help local film industry catch up to Hollywood in visual effects

  • A new method of shooting visual effects was demonstrated with the hit Disney+ show The Mandalorian, using virtual backdrops instead of traditional green screens
  • Chinese production firms are promoting the technology as a way to reduce visual effects costs in local productions

Reading Time:3 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
0
A virtual set during the shooting of The Mandalorian. Photo: Handout/Disney
Xinmei Shen

A new visual effects approach for film production, which proved its worth in the new Star Wars franchise The Mandalorian, is inspiring production companies in mainland China and Hong Kong to experiment with the technology in hopes of making it mainstream for future local productions.

The Mandalorian, the titular bounty hunter in the Disney+ live action TV series, moves between desert landscapes and futuristic interior environments, but the scenes were not shot on location, on a movie set, or using a green screen. They were filmed in front of a giant LED wall display that could project an imaginary world as one that appears real to the audience.

Known as “virtual production”, the digital background are generated in real time by a powerful computing game engine, allowing filmmakers to combine live-action footage with visual effects in real time.

The technology could revolutionise filmmaking because real world settings can be replaced. China, with more than 20 billion yuan (US$3.1 billion) of box office revenue in 2020, is known for its theme parks across the country that double as locations for film shoots. In the town of Hengdian in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang, for instance, the so-called “movie city” built a replica of the Forbidden City for filmmaking.

Virtual production technology also offers Chinese filmmakers a chance to catch up with their Hollywood counterparts, by lowering the technology and production thresholds for sci-fi spectaculars such as Avatar, the 2009 James Cameron production that dominated the Chinese box office at the time and amazed Chinese filmmakers with its pioneering use of motion capture special effects.

Virtual production opens the door to future moviemaking because it allows film crews to see what is in a shot in real time so they can adjust or change the digital background as needed, according to industry experts. It replaces the traditional method of shooting the action in front of green or blue screens and adding the visual effects in post production, which is a more costly process.

Advertisement