Virtual Production in Advertising- Are we ready yet?

Recently I stumbled upon the idea of using virtual production in creating brand videos. Those who are not that much familiar with the term virtual production; I am here to tell you that you are not alone. I happened to get the in-depth idea very recently only.

So basically, what happens when you wish to use different geographical locations and setups. But either the location is not that easily accessible, or it is over your budget… or there is a time limitation in place. Earlier, in such scenarios, we needed to pick our favorite. And proceed with what is available.

Maybe one day (obviously due to Covid restrictions in shooting outdoors) someone got an idea about having the best of both worlds. And so, Virtual Production came into picture.

In simple terms, all we need to do is setup some LED Walls – on which the footage of the location/setup is playing. And we can place the props, artists etc. based on the story in front of these LED screens, and hit record. That’s it. Sounds easy, but there are still various technical developments taking place which can bring us somewhat closer to shooting in real locations.

So, the question arises are we, and by we… I mean we Indians ready to integrate Virtual Production in advertising…?? coz many people across the globe are using it.

Here are my thoughts from an advertising agency point of view.

1. Virtual Production brings the best of both worlds. One of our clients, once had this very ambitious idea of shooting outdoors for his automobile accessories brand. He wanted to shoot in hilly areas, city and some places in Rajasthan. The idea was brilliant, no doubt, but it was practically difficult to shoot in different locations with a tight deadline in hand. So, yes… Virtual Production can be the game changer in such situation.
2. Easy on the pocket: What if we want to shoot couple of scenes or maybe, incorporate few shots in say Paris, or any exotic locations. But at the same time, it is not feasible to go over the budget for a few shots only. ?Virtual Production bridges this gap by bringing every location of the world (real or imaginative) at our own fingertips.
3. Endless imaginative possibilities: Circling back to the second point, Virtual Production gives us endless possibilities to imagine any background locations. With the help of 3D modeling/animations, we can design the background as we desire.
4. Consistent with Brand’s identity: We all have seen advertising champaigns which are not cohesive. Virtual Production allows us to maintain consistent virtual sets and environments for brands, regardless the type of advertisement.
5. Controlled setup: Imagine you need to take shot in the golden hour, or a scene that needs to take place during the sunrise. The entire crew has to be on toes to setup the location, with pressure of not missing the sunrise in the shot. Additional to that the artists might need retakes… or some other technical issue arises during the shot. Those who happen to be on sets during the golden hour or sunrise, can exactly relate to this pressure. With the help of Virtual Production, you can have any number of hours golden hour or sunrise at your disposal. Addition to this you can adjust sets, lighting, and camera angles in real-time, allowing for immediate adjustments and experimentation to achieve the desired look and feel.

Having so many benefits, we are still in the learning phase with R&D on the technical aspects to make it more realism as well as on the camera aspects as well. Especially in India, there are few big film production companies have started developing studios specifically for the Virtual Production.

It is the matter of time, possibly by this year, we are going to see much more integration of Virtual Production in advertising as well.

Do you think are we ready yet, to integrate this in advertising??

Love to know your take on this??

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