The world’s largest virtual production stage opens in Australia as Nant sets up at Docklands Studios Melbourne

The smaller Stage Three is already operational and can be configured to accommodate multiple smaller productions, such as B. commercials can be rotated simultaneously. The larger Stage One, expected to open in May, aims to attract big-budget productions, typically from Hollywood.

Sam Esmail’s $188 million streak metropoliswhich is currently in pre-production, it is expected to deploy first.

“This type of infrastructure supports the highest level of television travel around the world,” says Vitins, whose company is owned by Universal Studio Group and provides production services for international shows and drives its own range of Australian content.

What makes virtual production so appealing to filmmakers is that it reduces the time and money spent on post-production visual effects, allows actors to perform in real-time in the environment being filmed (as opposed to green-screen where they imagine what will be in the finished product), and it allows the creation of photo-realistic worlds or exotic locations that might otherwise be impossible or too expensive to use.

Clayton Jacobson pioneered the on-site technology and built his own Dreamscreen facility in Epping. It was used for the ABC series Fire – the first Australian show to feature virtual production – and La Brea.

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Caroline Pitcher, executive director of VicScreen, which has successfully lobbied the state government to support the new project with a $12.5 million contribution out of a $60 million cost, believes the technology is a potential turning point for the kind of productions that are made in Australia.

“It allows for a lot more complexity in storytelling,” she says. “This breaks the barriers that limit physical production and allows creatives to dream bigger and in much more complex ways.

“It allows writers to think bigger, better and in different ways. With this technology, we can be anywhere in the world or universe, and that really got us excited.”

Nant will have more than 20 permanent employees on site to operate and maintain the technology.

“This is going to provide innovative technical and creative jobs for Victorians for a really long time,” says Pitcher.

You can find more of the author’s work here. Email him at kquinn@theage.com.au or follow him on Facebook at karlquinnjournalist and on Twitter @karlkwin.

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