The summer is a busy time for film studios as directors make the most of long daylight hours and plenty of lush scenery. However, the reality of filming in British summertime often means battling with unpredictable weather that can bring four seasons in one day. This can be hugely disruptive to productions that are running on tight schedules.
This is why more film studios are turning to LED video walls to transform the way that virtual productions are planned and carried out. Here’s a look at how these large-scale high definition displays are bringing more flexibility and control to the filmmaking process.
Taking control of timescales
It can sometimes take weeks of rising before dawn or hanging around late into the evening to capture the perfect glowing sunrise or golden sunset. The lighting conditions can alter the whole mood of the scene, but often this means filming lots of scenes out of sequence or many retakes.
This can affect the quality of the performances, and throw carefully planned schedules and budgets off course. LED video walls can be used to create whatever lighting conditions you want, when you need them. This means that the unpredictable elements are taken out of the equation: no more endless rain delays or audio ruined by the wind.
With ultra brightness, deep contrast, and colour accuracy, the screens can convincingly replicate any outdoor setting within a predictable studio environment. This means that sticking to your timescale doesn’t have to involve praying to the weather gods or constant rescheduling and long wasted hours of work.
Dynamic backdrops without the logistical headaches
Filming on-location might lend authenticity to a production, but it involves serious amounts of planning. This can strain budgets as it involves the transport of bulky equipment and maybe overnight accommodation for the cast and crew.
Location-scouting, travel, long set-up times, weather-related delays, and unexpected interruptions can all sap energy levels and soak up time and money. LED video walls can provide an instant digital backdrop for anywhere in the world inside your studio. This brings you much greater creative freedom for a fraction of the time, cost, and crew.
Unlike traditional green screens, digital backgrounds provide a dynamic and interactive background that actors can respond to in real time, giving a more natural and convincing performance. It’s not an all-or-nothing scenario either: you might still want to film a few key scenes on-location, and use dynamic digital backgrounds to build the rest of the production.
Saving post-production time and costs
LED walls don’t just save time when you are filming: they also make the post-production process much more streamlined and efficient. There’s no need to spend hours keying in scenes that have been filmed against green screens, and the number of re-takes required is dramatically reduced as mismatched lighting and visible edges are consigned to the past.
The footage is already polished and will usually require much less work to get it ready for the final cut. In many cases, the director will be able to see and sign off the background locations and visual effects in the pre-production stage.
LED walls feature dimmable lighting technology that gives realistic shadows and highlights on the actors and set props, so that the scene looks natural and convincing without hours of work in post-production.
Furthermore, working with digital technology allows the cinematographer to view the footage in real time from multiple camera angles, which can spark fresh ideas and make creative collaborations easier. Overall, the whole process is much more flexible, adaptable, faster, and cost-efficient.