Insider
1 HN recommender · recommended in 4 months, 2021–2023
6:39 · 7.5M views · Jun 11, 2020
Insider explains how The Mandalorian replaced green screens with LED walls that project real-time 3D environments behind actors, with over half the show filmed on such virtual sets.
Cited as an explanation of LED virtual production and how it solves green-screen lighting problems.
5 comments from Hacker News
I watched a video on how they made the mandalorian today and Hollywood is basically moving away from green screens towards gigantic curved lcd screens which have scenes created in a 3d games engine. It produces more natural lighting results and is better for actors and cinematographer to work with. It’s far cheaper than shooting on location but I wonder if there’s going to be a net loss in jobs when when you can just have a couple of prompt engineers and maybe one or two artists to make tweaks to get any shot you want. Video for anyone interested: this video
I have always wanted to try setting up a low-tech version of this, where instead of using a light-field display, you assume that you have only one viewer and you simply render the correct point of view on the screen. This is the same technique used to shoot The Mandalorian [1], but in this case we're only trying to make a "pane of glass" so an ordinary high-res TV will do. With both participants positioned correctly, you will get correct accommodation, vergence, and parallax depth cues---only stereopsis is missing, and stereopsis is much less important than people think. 1/3 of people don't even have good stereo vision! [2] As long as you're willing to give up stereopsis, and you have only 1 viewer on each side, I think you could accomplish this type of immersive telepresence with an ordinary TV + software. [1] this video [2] [LINK]
I immediately guessed this was a green screen studio or 'virtual studio'. It has that tell-take 'fake' look to it that is easy to spot. Not knocking the effort or the impressive technology that underpins it. A recent development is 'virtual' sets with LED background screens replacing the traditional green screen. The blend of background and actors is seamless and impressive. Here's a behind-the-scenes look of The Mandalorian that uses this new technology. Why 'The Mandalorian' Uses Virtual Sets Over Green Screen : this video
Interesting - as I understand it, one of the big tech innovations from Disney's The Mandalorian was LED projected virtual sets that solved the lighting issues from green screens (see ~2:10 mark of this video: this video ), making VFX scenes cheaper and faster to produce in exchange for higher up front costs. It had the added benefit of giving actors more to work off of. I wonder if this technique will swing the cost pendulum back in favor of traditional green screens?
This background blur becomes a necessity if the filmmakers are using the "LED wall virtual set" technology. Otherwise, you could see the individual LEDs if the background was in sharp focus. E.G.: "Why 'The Mandalorian' Uses Virtual Sets" this video