Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1469382
8 cgw a p r i l • m ay • j u n e 2 0 2 2 disruption or failure. So the dependability of each component has to be bulletproof and you can't afford to have any variance in the engineering of the products themselves. If they act a little bit differ- ently, something's going to fail." With such a high potential for system failure, Nicholson was very grateful for the support he received from the Blackmagic team throughout the process. "They were fantastic to support this effort because I said, 'We're going to try to do this,' and they said, 'Great, how can we help?' And I really think that's what makes a company like Blackmagic so unique. They are highly responsive to the people who are using the hardware in very innovative ways," he notes. Matching the image perspectives with the curvature of the LED volume required a complex coordination process. "We had 14 computers running 14 A6000 Nvidia graphics cards on that wall," Nicholson explains. "Once you have all these systems coordinated, it goes into the Unreal Engine to do the off-axis display because the cameras are tracked. We're on a 165-foot curved J-shaped wall. It's got a 180 curve at one end and then it goes straight. It's a very unique shape of a wall, and all of the images have to be mapped onto it and displayed based on the correct perspec- tive. Or you wind up with a horizon that bends, and horizons don't bend." Even with the multitude of challenges and the complexity of the system, Nicholson was thrilled with the overall performance of the setup. "I'm very happy that I can honestly say in 14 weeks we didn't have a minute of downtime because of the virtual production," he recalls. Invisible immersion The success of the project's virtual production workflow was especially impressive considering that the visual effects were not meant to be noticed. "This is a half-hour comedy. This is not a Marvel movie. The visual effects or the virtual production are supposed to be invisible," Nicholson notes. "You're not supposed to sit there and go, 'Oh my gosh, what a great visual effect.' You're supposed to believe you're on the ocean or in a harbor." Nicholson and his team collaborated closely with visual effects supervisor David Van Dyke throughout the pro- duction. "We continually had discus- sions about what we could achieve in real-time and what would be better left for traditional visual effects," he recalls. "One of the most important questions that every production should ask if you're thinking about virtual production is 'What should we not do in virtual production?'" During production, the stakes are very high, and it can be disastrous if anything goes wrong on set. This is why it is extremely vital to focus on what actually needs to be completed virtually and exclude anything that could cause unnecessary issues during production, incurring huge costs as a result. "I'm not a gymnast in Cirque du Soleil, but it would be like falling off the trapeze in front of everybody at a big show," Nicholson notes. "It's a high-risk thing, so you have to be incredibly well-rehearsed. This is live performance, so you have to be very confident in the tools that you're using and what you can achieve. And again, that comes back to rely- ing on the technology." Not only does the technology need to function seamlessly, The team used six synchronized Resolve systems on set. Off-axis display was handled by the Unreal Engine. Courtesy of Stargate Studios