Hello! Returning to Stage 32 after a year or so hiatus to see how everyone is doing and adapting in the current industry setting.
My team and I had our feature put on hold as the outbreak hit, and are just now working on recovery. My writing partner and I have a Pilot script that has done relatively well in some contests and is currently being read by Kristen Bell and her team, as well as going to Development Teams at Netflix and HBOMax, so we are getting back to "normal".
Have not had much time to post pics or any additional material with regards to our feature film that was put on hold, and our next 2 projects (one short, one small feature), but will do so soon.
It is great to be back on Stage 32, having written some published blogs for the site in the past, as well as taking advantage of the promotional/connection tools provided. Looking to be much more active this time around.
Posted the trailer for our last feature, "Drinksgiving", which was picked up for distribution by Gravitas Pictures and is currently available on Prime, YouTube Movies, Epix, Tubi, and many other streaming and VOD services: https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=drinksgiving+trailer&&view=detail&m... .
Best to you all!
I am currently at the beginning of a Virtual Production in a Volume. From the approaches and budgets, there are a few things that are very clear. At this time these are high budget productions with co...
Expand commentI am currently at the beginning of a Virtual Production in a Volume. From the approaches and budgets, there are a few things that are very clear. At this time these are high budget productions with costs amortized over a lot of shooting days and the complexity of the shoots. With the aims and intent of the productions, the costs are break-even over an extended period of shooting. The advantages of unchanging weather and consistent sun position being just a few time, and therefore money, savers. Shifting some of the post operations to actual production in Virtual Production does not seen to be much of a saving just a re-allocation of budget items. There are a LOT of people, gear and specialized techniques involved. So much so that at this point it might be out of reach for small one-off productions.
There are some future possibilities. As more environments become available as pre-built artwork in Unreal Engine, the costs using existent artwork should be a big savings over creating unique places assuming that the look works for a given production. Familiarity with the techniques will develop efficiencies across the board for, I believe, significant savings. As the number of Volumes to shoot in increases, rental costs for them might come down, although the build costs look pretty stable and are understandably very high for a Volume stage compared to a standard stage or location. The complication of a production also has an effect. If the volume is merely used as a backdrop or series of backdrops, then the cost of creating the locations in Unreal Engine and the support needed on stage can be significantly less. It is relatively new tech so it will take a while longer for costs to come down.