Friday, February 21, 2020
THE MANDALORIAN's Virtual Sets Are Insane
Nerdist: The Mandalorian quickly rose in our collective fan hearts with its look, its action, and its tiniest bounty. It just right away felt like Star Wars, and a lot of that was down to how gorgeous and seamless the settings looked. We believed Mando was on a desert planet fighting Jawas, or collecting a bounty on a bleak, barren tundra. But those planets don’t exist, not really. However, they almost do.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
I've only watched the first episode of The Mandalorian, and I was really impressed by the set design of the locations they used to create just the first episode. I thought that they went to different locations for each scene, and wondered how much money they spent creating just the first episode. After reading this article and watching the video in the article, I realized that they did not spend money on bringing the people to the locations, but rather they spent the bulk of their money bringing the location to the people. The idea to use interactive screens to render an environment is genius and revolutionary in the art of filmmaking. This increases the need for more digital artists than production designers, but for space themed television and movies, it make the most sense. They can create any world they want their characters to be in without ever leaving a sound stage. The amount of technology that goes into this project is amazing and is a sign of more things to come in the film industry.
This is an incredible practical effect! With such innovation as this, the painted cycloramas of the past quite possibly could be seeing their ultimate end. I am always astounded to see how projection technology has improved over time, going from older, low-resolution digital projectors to now, where we have LED projectors, laser projectors, projectors capable of 4K resolution. In addition, cinema projectors that take up half a room and have a xenon arc lamp that burns at thirteen thousand degrees which could explode if the water cooling fails… It is all crazy, but production designers are now implementing their power not only into theatre but now into film as well. Aside from the projectors themselves, the projections are amazing. It is mind blowing to consider the fact that these graphics are generated live. The processing power this would require is astounding. It is understandable for these game-style renders to function well on a small computer screen, but with three hundred sixty degrees of high-resolution projection area, this would require a computer that borderlines on supercomputer processing levels. Simply incredible.
This technology is so amazing to me and seems like it makes the whole process so much more efficient. Rather than making the backgrounds and virtual scenes post-production, they project the virtual environments in real time and film the whole thing at once. This would save so much time and it seems like The Mandalorian is really progressing and able to make more seasons even faster. Again, it always amazes me to see what Disney is doing next. I have not seen this show yet, but I really hope to watch some of it soon. This, to me, seems a lot similar to what Disney has been transitioning to in their theme parks. Rather than building full scale rides, they have created virtual projection environments, moving the passengers throughout that space to simulate real movement. It is really amazing how realistic this actually is. You would expect to notice some of the projection elements, but sometimes it is really impossible to see through that boundary.
Virtual design and effects have come ridiculously far in the recent decade/years. Besides being able to create stunning and hyper realistic virtual sets, technological advances have made it possible to create the illusion of characters actually being there, without an obvious greenscreen effect. I recently rewatched the first avengers movie, and I was kind of shocked on how bad the greenscreen special effects were. I remember watching it when I was in middle school and being stunned on how realistic all the action scenes were, whereas now, it is so obvious the set and background and fabricated. It reminds me on how when my mom was in school, the exorcist was a terrifyingly realistic movie, whereas now, when I watched in 6th grade, it was comedical due to the lack of good effects. It just goes to show how far the entertainment industry has come, and that technology exists that most of us cant even comprehend.
This is simply revolutionary. Even though virtual reality is still a relatively new innovation, it is definitely awe-inspiring to see it has so many applications already, most of which I would never even dream of. I have yet to watch the Mandalorian, but I have considered it for a while now. This is one more incentive for me to watch it. I always love "making of" type articles and videos, whether it's for scenic elements, costumes, props, sound, or what have you. It really is amazing how realistic and seamless the set of the Mandalorian seems to be and reminds me of the older Star Wars movies where the set was sometimes just a giant oil painting with the actors placed in front of it to create a sense of depth. Sometimes the simplest tech works best and I can't wait to watch the show and see it for myself.
This is so cool, and I think also a natural evolution of CGI technology. Seeing behind the scenes videos of modern movies always makes it seem like such an acting challenge to envision where everything is and how it looks (taken to the extremes by Endgame with the actors not knowing who their character was talking to or where they were in certain scenes to try and avoid spoilers being leaked). This is such a cool solution, combining CGI with practical sets to let things be filmed ‘on location’ without actually needing to be on location. Doing it this way makes so much sense and I’m excited to see this technology make its way into more TV and movie production processes. It honestly feels like a real-life implementation of the idea of the holodeck, and now I’m wondering if this technology will at some point move outside the entertainment industry for other uses.
At a certain point every year, I end up having to watch a show purely because of the sheer number of News Page articles I see about it. I think The Mandalorian will be one of those shows. Disney is on some other level of production technology for television and film. My brain truly cannot comprehend how they managed to make a curved screen look like an actual set. I wonder whether this technique of digitally rendering environments saves them money on the construction of a physical set, although I expect the answer is that it, in fact, does not. I also wonder how they manage to incorporate props, furniture, and other environmental factors. Does it affect the actor’s ability to perform in the space when there is nothing to physically interact with? I am sure that the people writing The Mandalorian love this technology, because technically there is no limit to the places they can take their character, and thus the adventures they write can be as expansive as they please.
I always felt like Star Wars would be something I'd be interested in but I've never attempted to get into it. Maybe starting out with the Mandalorian will be my in to the universe. After seeing this I'm so curious to watch it purely to how "seamless" the execution of the virtual sets actually are. Before this article, I wasn't even aware that virtual sets were a thing being used in the television industry period. But it's not really anything super crazy to think about happening now that I know a little bit more about media and projections and their use to fill space or create environments. It seems rather logical actually. Like Sammy said above I am a bit skeptical about whether virtual sets are really cost-effective; however, I would think that the initial cost of equipment and software would eventually even out if the show ran for long enough. Whether that's true, I don't know but it's intriguing to see not old but not new technology used in new (or at least new to me) ways.
Did you hear there is a 12 word phrase you can communicate to your crush... that will induce deep feelings of love and instinctual attractiveness for you buried within his chest?
That's because deep inside these 12 words is a "secret signal" that triggers a man's impulse to love, treasure and look after you with his entire heart...
12 Words Who Trigger A Man's Love Instinct
This impulse is so built-in to a man's brain that it will make him try harder than ever before to take care of you.
In fact, triggering this powerful impulse is absolutely important to having the best possible relationship with your man that the second you send your man one of the "Secret Signals"...
...You will immediately find him expose his mind and soul to you in such a way he's never expressed before and he'll recognize you as the only woman in the universe who has ever truly tempted him.
Post a Comment