VP Foundation
- Lesson1 of 6
- Time70 min
- Safety gateMust be passed
Workflow and planning
Outcome
Break down a scene for virtual production: wall or green screen, 2D or 3D, what must be ready when, and what it costs in stage time.
Mapped to 2 ScreenSkills checklist lines
- ScreenSkills virtual production competencies: camera roles · Supplying and maintaining camera and related equipment for virtual production: "liaise with production manager / producer about gear costs and delivery costs and timeframe"
- ScreenSkills virtual production competencies: lighting roles · Carry out recce and confirm pre-production requirements: "Check whether the LED wall is hung / suspended or floor stacked"
ScreenSkills checklists are guides, not accreditation. This course is not endorsed by ScreenSkills.
Watch
4 films · about 71 minutes
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More like this: Virtual production path
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The breakdown questions
- For each scene: does the wall help? Light and reflections on the actors, a location you can't get to, control of time of day, or many set-ups in one place are good reasons.
- 2D plate or 3D world? If the camera's view of the background barely changes, a plate is cheaper and often better. If the camera moves through space, you need 3D.
- What's real and what's on the wall? The art department builds the foreground; the wall carries the distance. Where they meet must be hidden.
Front-loaded schedule
- VP moves decisions from post into prep. Worlds must be built, reviewed and signed off weeks before the stage day.
- Plates need their own shoot, often with a multi-camera array, before the stage days.
- Stage time is booked by the day. Group scenes by world; allow time for world changes and tech checks.
What drives cost
- Stage hire and crew, the content (worlds or plates), and how much changes late.
- Savings come from fewer locations, less travel and less VFX in post. Costs rise when worlds are late or changed on the day.
- Figures in the videos are US and indicative. UK budgets come from the stage and the VP vendor.
Check
3 questions drawn from 8 · pass mark 80% · safety-critical questions must be right · 3 attempts in 24 hours · new questions each time
Watch the films to open the check.
Do
Break down a two-page scene · 25 minutes
Read the scene. For each of its four set-ups, choose wall or green screen, 2D or 3D, and give a reason. Then list what must be ready, and by when.
INT. CAR / EXT. COASTAL ROAD – DUSK. Ama drives; Joe in the passenger seat. 1: Two-shot through the windscreen, road behind. 2: Singles on each through the side windows, sea beyond. 3: The car stops; wide shot from above showing the cliff edge. 4: Joe gets out and walks to the cliff edge, camera following.
How it's marked
- 1 and 2: wall, 2D driving plates, with reasons about light and reflections
- 3: green screen or a real location, with a reason about width
- 4: 3D world, a real location, or a hybrid, with reasons about camera movement
- Lists the plate shoot and world sign-off before the stage days, and the car on stage
Met or Not yet, with a comment from a trained reviewer. Until accounts open, open the model answer after you submit and mark your own work against it.
Model answer (open after you submit)
1 and 2: wall, 2D plates (dusk road and sea): real light and reflections on faces and glass. 3: too wide for the wall: real location or green screen. 4: camera moves through space: a 3D cliff world, or shoot it on location. Ready: plate shoot of the road and sea at dusk (array), world for scene 4 signed off a week or more before; the car prepped and on the stage; stage booked by world.
Reflect
Record
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Moving on doesn't complete a lesson. A lesson is complete when the films are watched, the check is passed and the task is marked Met.