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News Star Trek: Discovery’s AR Wall Virtual Set

I've never seen a show which was made this way. I assume that it does a decent job in making live action characters actually look like they're part of that projected background?
 
I've never seen a show which was made this way. I assume that it does a decent job in making live action characters actually look like they're part of that projected background?
It was pretty flawless in Mandalorian. I had no idea the tech existed/they were indoors. But I guess it depends who's directing.
 
I've never seen a show which was made this way. I assume that it does a decent job in making live action characters actually look like they're part of that projected background?
It's similar tech to this:

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I've never seen a show which was made this way. I assume that it does a decent job in making live action characters actually look like they're part of that projected background?
Yes, for the most part. Think of it this way...

You have this image...

VirtualTVProduction6_248ed78b6649d6cda0fcadc1ac9bc23e.jpg

Cinematographer Nikolaus Summerer (fourth from left) and colleagues on the set of Netflix’s 1899. The production employs an LED volume at Germany’s Dark Bay Virtual Studio, built in association with the Arri Solutions Group. (Photo courtesy of Arri Inc.)

In the past that would have been a huge green screen behind them, and they would have had to put the ocean in during post-production. Now with these huge AR Walls (Disney/Lucasfilm calls theirs StageCraft, I believe; I'm not sure if Star Trek has a name for theirs yet... ), but now with these huge AR Walls that background is there at the same time that they're shooting the scene. And in this instance, the clouds in the sky and the water in the ocean are moving as if it were real, because it's essential a video playing.

So it's a time-saver. And with that it obviously has cost benefits too. You don't have to go there any more (wherever "there" is), you just bring it to you. And in certain cases (perhaps many) it helps the actors too, because they don't have to pretend if something is happening in their surroundings because they can actually see it. Or just the surroundings are there in general, and that could help your performance.

Obvious limitations too on the "not having to go there" part. You can do a lot of things with the technology, but you can't do everything just yet. With Star Wars, The Mandalorian does both, they shoot on location and in their Volume with StageCraft. With Star Trek, Strange New Worlds recently shot in New Mexico. So obviously it was something there that they wanted that they felt that they couldn't do back in Toronto with their virtual wall. Likewise, I imagine if there's something that Discovery wanted they would go on location too. Or if they could do everything that they wanted on traditional sets and with their virtual wall in Toronto, then obviously they would do that.

Anyway, eventually we'll get to Holodecks I guess, but we're not there yet. These AR Walls/virtual walls are step one though, I guess. :)
 
I've never seen a show which was made this way. I assume that it does a decent job in making live action characters actually look like they're part of that projected background?
Its a revolution. Actors express that it's a superior way to film for them...to be able to perform against something instead of Green or blue screen.
 
Yes, for the most part. Think of it this way...

You have this image...

VirtualTVProduction6_248ed78b6649d6cda0fcadc1ac9bc23e.jpg



In the past that would have been a huge green screen behind them, and they would have had to put the ocean in during post-production. Now with these huge AR Walls (Disney/Lucasfilm calls theirs StageCraft, I believe; I'm not sure if Star Trek has a name for theirs yet... ), but now with these huge AR Walls that background is there at the same time that they're shooting the scene. And in this instance, the clouds in the sky and the water in the ocean are moving as if it were real, because it's essential a video playing.

So it's a time-saver. And with that it obviously has cost benefits too. You don't have to go there any more (wherever "there" is), you just bring it to you. And in certain cases (perhaps many) it helps the actors too, because they don't have to pretend if something is happening in their surroundings because they can actually see it. Or just the surroundings are there in general, and that could help your performance.

Obvious limitations too on the "not having to go there" part. You can do a lot of things with the technology, but you can't do everything just yet. With Star Wars, The Mandalorian does both, they shoot on location and in their Volume with StageCraft. With Star Trek, Strange New Worlds recently shot in New Mexico. So obviously it was something there that they wanted that they felt that they couldn't do back in Toronto with their virtual wall. Likewise, I imagine if there's something that Discovery wanted they would go on location too. Or if they could do everything that they wanted on traditional sets and with their virtual wall in Toronto, then obviously they would do that.

Anyway, eventually we'll get to Holodecks I guess, but we're not there yet. These AR Walls/virtual walls are step one though, I guess. :)
I thought I read that the SNW crew was just filming background shots in New Mexico to USE along with this new tech.
I don't remember them saying the actors were there also.
:shrug:
 
It's what they do the vfx team goes to locations to get scans of the areas, and build them in the computer, so you can have any time if day all day.
 
So they're essentially using an updated version of the rear projection technique with wraparound L.E.D. screens instead of a flat screen with a film/slide projector pointed at its backside.





 
This is exciting. But I'm also cautious. The use of this tech in the Mandalorian worked pretty well in some situations, but it sometimes left something to be desired, as it made many outdoor locations look like what they were--a small stage with a backdrop, not unlike old planet sets in Star Trek. And it made indoor locations look distractingly digital. The technology is revolutionary, but it's not yet able to replace a location shoot or good physical set. I hope it isn't used to do so.

However, it's a massive leap beyond greenscreen, eliminating the lighting issues, diffuse haloing, and other tells that often occur. And of course it seems to vastly improve actors' experiences. So, I'm reasonable optimistic?
 
Again, your "stating the obvious" remark to me, indicates that you seem to be purposely looking for things that stand out while you watch the show.

I'm most always so involved with the story and characters that things like that just don't come into my wheelhouse.

That's the way I've watched every Star Trek episode since day one in 1966.
Even back then, the cheesy sets didn't register in my mind till it they were actually pointed out to me at the first Trek Con I attended at the NYC Statler Hotel back in "72.
:shrug:
 
So it's not purposely looking for any flaws, I just have different standards than you do, apparently. I expect very high quality, and if I don't get it, then it's not worth my time.
Man that’s arrogant. This makes it sound like the person you’re replying too isn’t looking for high quality either.
 
Well, yeah, I have to first totally buy into the world. Then I can get into the characters and the story. That's how it works for me. Of course, if I don't totally buy into the world, then I'm gone. So pretty simple.

So it's not purposely looking for any flaws, I just have different standards than you do, apparently. I expect very high quality, and if I don't get it, then it's not worth my time. And I'm telling you exactly how it is, so there's no need for any "indicates" or "seems" about anything.

Again, it's very simple: I like it or I don't like it. And I don't need to purposely look for any flaws in anything, because it's not that important to me.

That's also why I've watched next to no genre television, because most of it I find to be of very low quality and therefore not worth my time.

Before Games of Thrones, which I thought was high quality, I honestly can't tell you the last genre show that I watched on television. Maybe an odd episode of Voyager, when I would check in on that from time to time to see if it had gotten any better. So maybe 15 years. And after Game of Thrones... I guess Westworld and then Discovery. So it has to be what I consider high quality or I don't watch it.

Growing up watching The Original Series in syndication I was a little kid, and I didn't have the same type of expectations that I did as I grew older. So The Original Series was fine to 5 year-old me. Nowadays of course The Original Series looks ridiculous to me. And the stories and characters aren't anywhere near as compelling to me as they once were.

But that's fine. Because I've found something that I consider much higher quality in Star Trek: Discovery. And it's something whose world I immediately bought into from it's opening moment. Well, after the Klingon scene, that was a little cheesy to me at first. No, but the desert opening with Michael and Georgiou I immediately bought into. And of course I don't think every episode of Discovery is perfect, but I totally buy into the world, so I can accept the good and the bad when it comes to the characters and story. So pretty simple.

The only other time with Star Trek that I totally bought into the world was the opening moments of JJ Trek in 2009. I bought that hook, line, and sinker, so I was good to go. And I guess The Motion Picture I immediately bought into too, after the Klingon scene (and what is it with Star Trek and cheesy opening Klingon scenes), but I was little kid then too, so... And every other Star Trek movie I had no interest in (save for the first two JJ movies), and have only seen one or two of them, but that's neither here nor there.

Anyway, that's also why I dislike all of 90s Star Trek, because I never bought into any of what they were putting forward. That was just cheesy-a** Star Trek television to me, and not very high quality, and therefore not worth with my time. And The Next Generation debuted when I was 17. So I wasn't looking at it through the eyes of a little kid. No, I was looking at it though the eyes of a cynical teenager. And it looked like trash to me. :)

No, but, so I could never get into any of the characters. And none of the characters were interesting to me anyway. So it was a lose/lose all around. So pretty simple.

So it's nothing to shrug your shoulders about. We just have different standards and like different things. And nothing hard to understand about that. It's pretty simple.
Heh ...

You just spent no small amount of time writing a somewhat long diatribe about it ...
(as well as going out of your way to mix in a few arrogant, side-ways, disparaging remarks toward me)

Soooo ...
Still seems to me, that that alone proves you spend more of your efforts dissecting what your watching, rather than just enjoying it.

(and apparently enjoy being rather judgmental toward anybody who doesn't adhere to your way of doing things)



Good luck with that...
:shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug::shrug:
 
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No, just by watching the show.

If it's a more fantastic setting, then it's obviously StageCraft. And if it's a more more realistic setting, then it's obviously shot on location.

Isn't that an obvious thing? And The Mandalorian does both, shoot in the Volume and on location. Some of the dessert scenes were shot in Darth Valley in California.
It isn't obvious to me so mileage will vary I guess. :shrug:
 
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