When conventional VFX are produced, there’s often a real-world lighting reference available. That approach can be used in virtual production, but increasingly, the director of photography might want or need to have some pre-production involvement in the development of a virtual world. The job may be familiar, but the tools are likely to be new.
While most broadcasters today are capturing live events in 1080p/50-60 HD, 4K UHD is increasingly in demand for many high-profile sporting and entertainment telecasts. Due to this, customers want cameras that can work in multiple formats for versatility and provide the best return on investment.
Wireless microphone technology is a natural fit within broadcast production and TV-UHF technology brings additional reliability through dedicated frequency access.
We use buffers to reassemble asynchronous streams so we must measure how long individual packets take to reliably get to the receiver, and the maximum and minimum delay of all packets at the receiver.
It is true that some of the key tools of virtual production are well-established in the world of computer entertainment, but the design constraints can be very different, demanding photorealism over smaller areas, as well as staging and layout that’s suitable for the proposed scene.
Not long ago, nearly everything but software on display in exhibits at TV trade shows worldwide was also known as “Big Iron,” because most new TV broadcasting products were big and heavy. Today, the only big iron on display at TV trade shows is RF hardware such as transmitters, antennas, feedline, filters, and towers. Nearly everything else on display is small, digital and portable and/or runs on a PC or smartphone.
Polar patterns play a big part in designing the sound for a programme, and they apply to all microphones. The next step is to ascertain what kind of microphone to use.
Virtual production brings new technologies and techniques so thorough planning and great team communication are key to achieving smooth production and the best results.