Changing the future of video production with Crystal LED

Introducing Virtual Production. Using the latest technology from Sony Innovation Studios, sets and locations for film and TV productions are captured as 3D volumetric point cloud data. The data is then processed and rendered using the studio’s ‘Atom View’ software and displayed as a background image on a Crystal LED display for real-time virtual production.

At the Virtual Production Lab in Japan, Sony PCL also practices real-time virtual production with its own innovative visual expression and technical aspects, to create the new normal for high-quality video production.

This installation uses ZRD-2 display units and ZRCT-200 display controllers.

Creators don’t want to see images that have already been seen by someone else. Generally, they always strive to make something people never seen before, or things never experienced before, and I believe this technology will be a great tool for empowering such creators.
Masaki Nakayama
of Sony Innovation Studios

A virtual production environment with a cameraman on a dolly filming the Ghostbusters car

From imagination to reality

The first thing I felt while filming using the virtual set was “This is fun!” said Sota Koshino, Contents Creation Department, Sony PCL Inc.

“It is a new experience to display something that doesn’t exist in the real world in the background and sharing those images with real actors on set.

It is directly related to the quality of the production. Another universe exists within the virtual set. It can be the future, past and possibly even other planets. It is extremely fun to create new worlds and save them as virtual sets.

“My first goal with Sony Virtual Production is to create virtual sets that get a reaction of surprise out of the audience and cause them to say such things like ‘Does such a place even exist?’ or ‘How did you go there and shoot?’”

A motorcyclist on his bike in front of a Tokyo streetscene, rendered using Virtual Production

A man surveying a streetscene of Tokyo at night, rendered using Virtual Production

From Hollywood to Japan – Continuing to Innovate Visual Expression

I believe that virtual production technology will become a commonplace soon,” says Daisuke Kobayashi, Visual Innovation Office, Sony PCL Inc.

“We built this Virtual Production Lab because we thought it was necessary to take on the challenge of creating new visual expressions along with creators with the high quality of Hollywood’s virtual production systems.

“A key feature of our Virtual Production Lab is that with Crystal LED you can experience a virtual studio with faithful color reproduction, large dynamic range expression, real-time rendering engine workflow, and 4K cinema cameras synchronizing with the virtual production space.

“Creators will have the largest variety of new ideas, and Sony PCL will take the initiative in providing the creative and technical assistance with the latest video production methods to realize them. We will continue to grow, and video production itself will evolve like never before.

“We would like this lab to be a hub of new normal video production activities that will inspire us as well as creators.”