The most interesting element of the Disney+ live-action “Star Wars” series “The Mandalorian” wasn’t so much something in the final series, but rather the filming technique heavily employed throughout and known as ‘Stagecraft’.
The show’s production made use of a space called ‘The Volume’, a large soundstage surrounded by high-quality large 4K LED screens displaying a virtual landscape image rendered in the Unreal gaming engine. The tech is linked to the camera used, changing the parallax of the image as the camera moves and so allows for a convincing illusion that can be shot ‘in camera’.
It essentially takes the goal of older techniques like rear projection and virtual sets and realises them far more effectively, in addition to adding all sorts of advantages from environmental reflections and lighting to the ability to make changes and adjust the environment on the fly.
To date both “The Mandalorian” and films like “The Irishman,” “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” and “Top Gun: Maverick” are the most notable recent projects to use the craft. This past week the New York Post has reported that demand for the tech has skyrocketed as Hollywood studios including Warners, Paramount, Hulu and CBS TV are in talks to start using it.
With both international travel heavily restricted and both the assembly and transportation of large production crews a near impossibility for the foreseeable future, the migration toward virtual sets is not only expected to surge but also continue well past the crisis.
Virtual sets with this tech can now be meticulous assembled mostly by tech people working remotely while the soundstage operation can work with a very limited number of crew on set. The tech is also able to get projects into production quickly, and because so much is done in camera there’s only a little post-production work required.
Currently, there are fewer than a dozen such stages in the world but it’s expected by July that number will double as interest in the tech’s use soars. The cost can run from a few thousand to a few million to setup depending upon scale.
