Virtual Production = Green Production

Virtual production could help to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the TV and film industry. Virtual production offers the opportunity to redesign the planning and execution of a large part of the content creation pipeline and significantly reduce the industry's carbon footprint. Sustainability plays an important role in the planning of all projects, and Virtual Production Pipelines have the potential to be far more efficient than traditional pipelines.

Less set building

The ability to create environments in a virtual world and make changes in real-time can reduce the need to build huge physical sets that are only used for a few days of shooting and the time it takes on set for turnarounds when the set is changed or changed.

Virtual Sets can be easily modified and reused, allowing for content recycling. Content can be created that looks completely new based on a 3D base construction with new materials, lighting and prop layout.

Less transportation & travel

Travel can also have a significant impact on production. One production can produce more than 2,840 tons of CO2, 16% of which is caused by travel. Being able to produce more content in a single location and remotely connecting VFX artists, producers and even directors to the set could reduce this significantly.

Virtual production also makes crewing, logistics and other areas more cost-effective and manageable. When shooting in an LED studio, we take the cast and crew to the location and switch between scenes within 15 minutes. There is no need to move cast, crew and equipment, which can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days and has a major impact on a production's carbon footprint. Virtual production brings the locations to the crew instead of bringing the crew to the locations.

More effective implementation

Shooting days can also be used more efficiently in a studio because environmental factors such as weather, noise and lighting conditions do not delay shooting. This means that fewer days of shooting are needed to implement the scenes. Of course, this optimization also leads to a reduction in C02 production.

LED screens also consume electricity

Yes, LED screens do consume electricity. However, the CG content in Virtual Production is rendered in real-time and filmed right away. Compared to classic productions, the electricity to render and merge the CG contents for days, can be saved. The consumption of the LEDs and classic workstations is almost the same.

What is our roadmap?

We can not just rely on the efficiency of Virtual production. We need to actively work on our policies, hardware and processes. These are the topics we will be working on in the future:

• Assistance in preparing the green production forms for any production
• Research into alternative technology and developments
• Exchange with film funding, cooperations and initiatives
• Sustainable fleet: Electric and hybrid vehicle
• Cold LED: An innovation by ICT AG to decrease the need for cooling

Frank Govaere - Head of Studio Operations - HALOSTAGE