“Green screens could soon become obsolete on set”. This was one of the premises which kicked off the second episode of our talk show “MediaTech meets… The Green Couch” at Studio Babelsberg on March 23. What followed was an in-depth look at the future of film production.
The key question: How is virtual production (VP) changing the way films and TV series are produced? The discussion featured two guests who are already actively shaping this development: Lukas Koll, producer and managing director at Arkanum Pictures, and Ernst Feiler, project manager for virtual production and AI in Babelsberg.
Virtual Production on the Rise
Both guests agreed on the fact, that progress is currently moving at a rapid pace. Especially in the areas of tracking and keying, technology is advancing so quickly that productions could become increasingly independent of physical backgrounds.
A current pilot project centered on the series GZSZ (Arkanum / UFA Serial) demonstrates what this development might look like in practice. The project is already testing how virtual production can be integrated into the day-to-day production of the series.
New demands on production teams
However, virtual production also brings new challenges. Pre-production, in particular, is becoming increasingly important. Anyone who wants to use VP efficiently must plan much earlier and more thoroughly—a shift that has not yet taken hold everywhere in the often tightly scheduled world of daily production.
In general, there are still a few unanswered questions regarding the use of AI in film production. In particular, the costs are currently difficult to estimate. However, initial practical approaches demonstrate how selecting specific models and prompts makes it possible to calculate the number of tokens and thus provide a rough estimate in advance.
Our takeaway from the evening: Virtual production is here to stay. The technology will bring about lasting change in the film and television industry—even if it remains to be seen how quickly it can be implemented economically on a large scale.
