EXPANDED VIRTUAL SCENERY CINEMA
Expanding our take on rear projection.
Since we started using rearprojection as a tool for shooting car-scenes, we evolved the process into a possibility to use the LED-volume to shoot exteriors without being on the actual location.
We grew a little frustrated that, due to the limited size of the LED-screen, we only were able to shoot medium-shots with hardly any headroom on longer lenses like a 50mm.
We also had to avoid showing legs because the studio floor would show up in the shot.
The simple solution would then be to opt for a bigger ledscreen, but that would be a huge step away from our promise to keep things affordable and accessible for small-budget productions.
But now we have come up with a workable solution to use the same (limited) seized LED-wall and expand the image, shot in the studio, into a much wider shot! We shot as wide as 25mm!
We want to emphasize that we are still using an LED-screen without Unreal Engine and VFX to create a realistic and existing background, not an abstract background like a desert or a planet or an expensive 3D background.
The following video shows the results of the test.
We shot our subjects in front of a LED-screen. Part of the original plate shot that was projected on the LED-screen behind the person. The rest of the plate shot is added afterwards (wipe). We used a small greenscreen to replace the studiofloor.
On set, in the studio, we mixed both images so we already had an idea of the end result.
Under the video you can see two shots from the upcoming series 'Elixer'.
The plates were shot in India and Taiwan, the actors were in a studio in Belgium!
We keep improving our process almost every time when shooting in front of a LED-screen.
If you have any plans of using rear-projecting for your production, make sure you contact us through this website.
