Director Of Photography | Bert Pot

VIRTUAL SCENERY CINEMA

A new take on rear projection.

'Virtual Scenery Cinema' is an ongoing project of myself and John Thorborg to shoot complicated and expensive scenes under controlled, creative and affordable circumstances. We approach rear projection on a LED Volume from a cinematographer’s point of view creating the best

photo-realistic backdrop possible using the tools of a cinematographer. VFX is only used to change the background for the story that is told in front of the Led-wall. 
In our project we don't use 3D backgrounds to keep things affordable and easy to incorporate in your production.

We are not a studio that is 'ready and set to go'. We are two independent creatives and we know where to rent our equipment and studio to get things going customized to the needs of a project.

THE SPECTACULAR

In early 2020 I was supposed to shoot a series on the IRA and their attacks around 1990 on the European mainland. Due to the pandamic the project got rescheduled and we tried to work our way around travel ristrictions. It was decided that we would not travel to foreign countries and that we put all our effort in filming on build sets and in using Virtual Scenery.

In the summer I was allowed to travel to Great Brittain to shoot background-plates and footage to be used in the series.

We started shooting in august and saved up all kinds of scenes in Belfast, Germany and Belgium untill the end of the shooting schedule. We started using the LED-wall as a background for scenes were cars and driving were not involved. We had a scene on a ferry leaving Belfast and scenes in the city of Belfast itself.

We filmed in stationary cars, in several phone booths around the Netherlands; we had scenes in a train and on the Kurfurtstendamm in Berlin all in front of our LED-screen.

We also did some pick-up shots and a scene that was re-written and never made the schedule beforehand.

Filmstills from the series The Spectacular.

Shots that were shot in the studio showcasing our Virtual Scenery Technic.