CREATIVE visualisation has changed tremendously over the years. From 3D animation to virtual film, each has the ability to transport us into immersive, fantastical new worlds.
The use of virtual production and in-camera visual effects (ICVFX) technologies, for example, has grown exponentially over the past two years. In 2020, there were fewer than a dozen ICVFX stages running around the world, but today, more than 250 exist across the globe.
"Virtual production is absolutely the future for the media and entertainment sector, whether it is for film and television production, advertisements, broadcast or live events. It is rapidly shaping the way we create, and the speed and scale at which creators can bring their ideas to life," said Epic Games' evangelist and technical account manager for Southeast Asia Dean Reinhard.
CREATIVE ALLY
The technologies and workflows that were once used only by big studios are now democratised, paving the way for a new generation of content creators. This path is made possible by Epic Games, an interactive entertainment company and 3D engine technology provider, along with disguise, which is a platform for creatives and technologists to imagine, create and deliver spectacular visual experiences.
Both companies have been collaborating closely to democratise the delivery of 3D graphics across all types of industries, including virtual production, broadcast and beyond with Unreal Engine.
Unreal Engine is the world's most open and advanced real-time 3D tool. It has proven to be a strategic, creative ally for creators and innovators in the digital era. It is capable of transforming workflows, enabling users to bring photorealistic visualisation to life.
In Asia and elsewhere, creators and industry professionals are fast adopting real-time methods across production workflows. This improves the creative life cycle, from ideation and conceptualisation to location scouting, production design and final-frame visual effects.
"I'm really excited to see production teams in Southeast Asia working more collaboratively and efficiently than ever before in virtual production, and seeing all these technologies coming together within a unified disguise workflow," said disguise's regional sales manager for Southeast Asia, Nicholas Chan.
To date, Epic Games has supported over 1,600 creators and teams across 89 countries, through its Epic MegaGrants programme, a US$100 million fund designed to actively foster success in the developer and creator community.
FUTURE OF FILMMAKING
The world is heralding a new era of storytelling, with real-time visualisation transforming the ways in which content is created and consumed, and the production industry is unlikely to return to traditional ways of work.
"The future of filmmaking is now upon us, and it is already creating new roles and skills on the market," said Chan.
Real-time technologies continue to show great promise for the media and entertainment sector because with virtual production, the continuation of in-person shoots and productions is possible, even with tight constraints.
From independent creators to major broadcast stations, and even event organisers, everyone everywhere can now leverage virtual production and ICVFX to seamlessly create immersive, interactive locales, even imaginary ones, within the confines of a stage.
This is because technologists are now empowered to disrupt workflows with end-to-end production efficiencies. By combining remote set-ups with cutting-edge virtual worlds and effects, the need for complex on-location shoots and lengthy post-production processes are eliminated. All can be done without being limited by the bounds of time, budget or even weather conditions and with massive time, cost and resource savings.
In Asia, there are 47 animation studios equipped with the technology. In Asean alone, studios like AUX Media in Singapore, 3Particle in Malaysia and V2 in Indonesia are already leveraging large-scale xR stages and LED screens across their live events, film and production workflows.
"We're already seeing great use cases come out of the region, with studios like AUX Media, 3Particle and V2 blazing the path forward," said Reinhard.
NEXT-GEN PRODUCTIONS
Locally, Malaysia's first xR studio, 3Particle, has leveraged real-time technologies and xR stages to create futuristic new environments.
Incorporated in 2013, the studio works across a wide range of industries offering complete solutions to businesses and agencies in Asia.
According to founder Carl Loo, although the company has been around longer, its xR Stage Malaysia studio was recently created to satisfy the needs in the production industry during the pandemic restrictions.
"Our xR stage has seen over a year of production. In that time, we have continued to see the many advantages and versatility that virtual production provides for capturing in-camera VFX and high-fidelity, cinematic shots with LED volumes," said Loo, who is also 3Particle Malaysia's technical director and event strategist.
3Particle has also leveraged xR stages to create futuristic new environments, which were used in the creation of music videos for local bands Imagi and Madam, and world-class virtual performances for Alan Walker.
RESHAPING MEDIA INDUSTRY
"This technology is definitely reshaping the media and entertainment industry landscape in Malaysia," he added.
Sharing more on the studio's capability, Loo said its ability to shoot and combine hyper-realistic scenes was a revolution to the production industry, enabling producers and directors to make creative decisions on the fly and shoot concepts much faster without the need to travel to various places just to shoot on location.
"This has a huge bearing on the production timeline, resulting in significant time, cost and resource savings for all teams involved," he said.
The 3Particle xR Stage Malaysia capability is clear as the technology has been utilised for a
series of high-quality visual productions, including Janna Nick's Gatal music video.
Moving forward, xR Stage Malaysia will continue to work closely with local-based creatives Experiential Design Team (EDT) to explore content-based tech collaboration for the media and entertainment industry, both in Malaysia and abroad, built on the Unreal Engine's real-time 3D workflows, as seen in projects such as Metahuman Raya, Arvena and Silau Maya Alun.
EDT is a specialised team that is plugged into the future, with xR at its core. Led by Fariz Hanapiah as its creative tech director, EDT's work leverages Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, and Mixed Reality across different communication touch points to create a seamless experience.
"We will continue to venture forward with a pioneering spirit in this immersive way of storytelling, and we look forward to collaborating with local educational institutions and universities to cultivate the industry's growing talent pool for the years ahead," said Fariz.
SHAPING THE FUTURE
Spearheading the technology in Singapore, AUX Media leveraged the real-time capabilities of Unreal Engine and disguise to develop live, interactive visual effects for Mediacorp's Star Awards Ceremony 2022, which were conceptualised and brought to life within the confines of the studio's xR stage.
"We are thankful for the many partners who have collaborated with AUX on this journey in the past few years, allowing us to streamline our applications of xR technologies to align with modern audience expectations," shared AUX Media Group chief executive officer Choong Chyi Kei, who added that not only did it produce a captivating end-result, it also enabled production teams to capture more authentic and genuine reactions and responses from the actors.
In another Asean country, Indonesia's first immersive xR studio, V2 Indonesia, is also changing the game for virtual events with real-time software.
In October last year, the AV-specialised studio made its foray into xR in the hopes of adding value to its current offerings for business, industrial and consumer clients.
The company has since been working with one of Indonesia's largest YouTubers to build a podcast studio equipped with xR technology. The company hopes that xR will
equip art creatives, TV media, advertising agencies and content creators to further unleash their creativity
and produce cutting-edge quality content.
Rudi Hidayat, its founder and CEO, expressed optimism about the development in the media and entertainment industry. "I am very happy to see the development of virtual production in Southeast Asia, which is getting cooler and more efficient."
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