Virtual production

THE NEXT STAGE – XR STUDIO

THE NEXT STAGE is a virtual production concept that’s unique in France.
Our studio, boasting a 60-million pixel LED wall pitch 2.5 scan 1/8, 4xDisguise VX2, 9xDisguise RX2 A6000 rendering servers and an integrated first-class lighting and robotics environment, proposes outstanding autonomy.

THE NEXT STAGE is a virtual production concept that’s unique in France. Our studio, boasting a 60-million pixel LED wall, 12 real-time 3D rendering servers and an integrated first-class lighting and robotics environment, proposes outstanding autonomy.

Méliès’ cinema
in the digital age

Image illusion techniques have existed since cinema appeared on the scene. The French illusionist, actor and film director Georges Méliès was the undisputed pioneer. As the founder of the world’s first film studio in Montreuil, in the suburbs of Paris, he developed a myriad of groundbreaking techniques for his films, such as colourization and superimposition. He would above all become known as a master of “Trompe-l’oeil” by creating a 3-dimensional illusion from flat-painted backgrounds, which he meticulously created. The actors were positioned in the foreground and the brilliant filmmaker shot the scene using a fixed camera. Over the course of the cinematic century, the green screen, matte painting and VFX would perpetuate the technique of illusion, constantly pushing back the boundaries of what’s possible.

 INNOVATION AS OUR
DRIVER!

For over 15 years, LA PLANÈTE ROUGE has been experimenting with a range of creative and technical skills and savoir-faire dedicated to films, TV fiction, advertising and video clips. We’re convinced that technological innovation only makes sense when it’s used for creative purposes. We remember films forever, never techniques or processes! And, this is how we’ve built our reputation, by rolling out seminal projects such as the ones we’ve imagined for Unconditional Rebel, No More and Shakaponk.

 

In 2021, following a lengthy, elaborate R&D phase, we’ve now launched our THE NEXT STAGE studio, which epitomizes our vision of virtual production.

As was the case with Méliès, the optical illusion that mixes foreground reality and background virtuality is captured directly by the camera. With THE NEXT STAGE, the filmmaker has total freedom of movement and, as such, the opportunity to cover a wide array of shots. Evermore-sophisticated photorealistic 3D renderings complete the overall interest of the process. This state-of-the-art technology shakes up the production chain considerably. It brings visual effects to the shoot. It invites us to reconsider our relationship as regards natural scenescapes and offers greater freedom for scriptwriting. In this respect, we believe it’s definitely a revolution whose impact we will fully appreciate over the coming years. 

Lionel Payet Pigeon

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OUR VIRTUAL PRODUCTION
SERVICE OFFERING

THE NEXT STAGE XR STUDIO

  • A studio covering 1,000 m2 of floor space comprising a U-shaped 2.5 pitch LED wall of 4 x UHD front, i.e. 14 x 14 x 14 metres by 6 metres high, a motorized roof of 1 x UHD of 8 x 8 m and two 5 x 2.5 metre mobile feeds, i.e. almost 50 million pixels.
  • A production control room equipped with BROMPTON technology, offering 12-bit HDR rendering on the LED wall with a frame rate of up to 200fps for slow motion. 
  • A DISGUISE system enabling Unreal rendering with outstanding capacity of 96,752 cuda cores and 3,024 tensor cores.
  • Fully integrated equipment, including 30 SkyPanels and 3 HMI 4kw, various Fresnels and fill lights, a MovieBird 24′ crane, a set of 4K HDR camera and village monitors with Terradec air link, a Sony X9 camera and a XEEN CF kit for scenery-set setup tests, as well as a large set of accessories (stands, frames, rollers, etc.).
  • Dedicated spaces : dressing rooms, makeup, production and post-production over 400 m2, directly accessible from the studio.
  • A highly-experienced team comprising technicians, integrators and creatives.
  • A ideal location inside PROVENCE STUDIOS where you can benefit from complementary infrastructures tailored to all types of shoot if need be: sets, backlots, workshops, carpentry areas, dressing rooms, catering facilities, storage spaces, etc.

XR CONSULTING, PREVIZ AND UNREAL CREATION

LA PLANÈTE ROUGE is first and foremost a team of 3D and VFX set designers who are highly-qualified to meet virtual production requirements. The immediate vicinity of the studio enables us to experiment and tailor our capacities to keep pace with changes in XR technologies. 

Creating environments is above all expertise resulting from our collaboration in the field with AD teams and production houses: analysing the layout, determining the performance space and interactions, as well as the relationship with materials and set design. It also involves developing HDR modelling and textures. The techniques selected (scanning, photogrammetry, flat and classic 3D) are determined beforehand so as to obtain the best result on-set, based on objectives. Everyone can interact with the environment through immersive technologies at every stage, without needing to be physically present in the studio.

Our customers are, of course, free to create their own 3D environments. In this case, we can accompany them by proposing detailed, documented specifications as well as the technical tools required to enable them to prepare their project successfully.

For rolling applications, we propose an approach based on the creation of unreal 3D environments in order to limit the use of 2D plate shooting as often as possible. We can thus benefit from the total management of light and camera axes…

THE ADVANTAGES OF VIRTUAL PRODUCTION THE NEXT STAGE – XR STUDIO

New set of tools for the filmmaker

The filmmaker sees the rendering directly and can tailor the set on the fly, such as moving objects, changing the colour of an item or adjusting the lighting. Our post-production and grading rooms offer quick, critical appraisal of daily rushes enabling filmmakers to make reasoned decisions.

Controlling the environment

The process makes it easy to switch from one set to another. And, it’s not conditioned by time or weather. A nighttime scene can be shot during the day or a sunset scene that actually lasts 10 minutes can last several hours if need be.

Comfort and incentive for actors

As opposed to the green screen, actors are immersed in the reality of the set, which provides them with an increased level of comfort. Immersion also favours actors’ instinctive reactions to on-set objects, scenescapes and events, as such in turn encouraging natural performances.

Controlling costs and scheduling

THE NEXT STAGE offers the opportunity to optimize costs and scheduling. Catering, dressing rooms, hairdressing, makeup, fashion design and storage are managed on-site. Crew travel is reduced and focused on one location. Totally independent of weather conditions and free from shooting authorizations.

Low ecological footprint

As it controls its environment, reduces travel and does not build heavy backdrops, THE NEXT STAGE is in line with a more virtuous ecological approach. Moreover, our studio is located on an Ecoprod-labelled site which develops a real eco-friendly policy.

Perfect
location

Our XR studio THE NEXT STAGE studio is set in a perfect location. It’s located in Martigues, in the South of France, inside PROVENCE STUDIOS; an outstanding filmmaking site just 20 min from major train stations and airports. This holistic ecosystem covers all the needs of national and international production.

Perfect location

Our XR studio THE NEXT STAGE studio is set in a perfect location. It’s located in Martigues, in the South of France, inside PROVENCE STUDIOS; an outstanding filmmaking site just 20 min from major train stations and airports. This holistic ecosystem covers all the needs of national and international production.

LES DIFFÉRENTS PROCÉDÉS

La production virtuelle ou les différentes techniques visant à créer du contenu de manière numérique

THE DIFFERENT PROCESSES

Virtual production or the different techniques used to create content digitally

XR IMMERSIVE PRODUCTION

In the studio, the floor and set components which the actors interact with are real. Photorealistic 3D scenescapes created beforehand and real-time generated using a rendering engine are projected onto LED walls in the background. The light emitted is reflected on the actors’ faces, clothes and accessories, making visual integration much easier. Whenever the filmmaker moves the camera, set perspective changes in the same way a landscape we’re looking at changes. This parallax effect is a spectacular optical illusion. The shot’s captured directly in the camera, without any need for heavy additional post-production processing.

XR CHROMA KEYING PRODUCTION

The scene is shot against a green or blue background on the LED wall.
Unlike traditional chroma keying, the rendering software only displays the green or blue on the part of the image that the camera sees, also called inner frustum. Backgrounds are real-time generated on the feedback screens, enabling the filmmaker and crew to make the best decisions by viewing the result live. The advantage in this instance is that the rendering software displays the 3D set on the LED space outside the camera’s field of view, also known as outer frustum. As such, the actors and the real components benefit from the light and reflections generated by the off-field-of-view area. By recording synchronous camera movements, the final overlay will be processed easily in post-production and VFX for film and feature applications. The process can also be used for live shooting. In this case, keying is carried out real-time by the rendering engine and what the filmmaker sees is recorded or broadcast live, without any post-production.

AR AUGMENTED REALITY

Using XR Immersive Production and/or XR Chroma Keying Production processes, augmented reality makes it possible to add 3D foreground components and/or interaction with the actors to the image in real time. This process is mainly intended for Live shooting applications.