Sony - FUTURE PROOF : More Than a Screen
Upbeat music plays. On a soundstage, a curved screen filling half the room displays a sunrise over a vast plain. Two silhouetted camera operators wheel a camera across the stage in front of the screen. A purple semi-circle with text appears in the left side of the view.
ON SCREEN TEXT: TOHO STUDIOS
Tokyo, Japan
A slender Japanese man wearing a fedora and a graphic t-shirt interviews in front of a dark background. A purple semi-circle with white text appears in front of him.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Shinichiro Ueda
Film Director
Yumemi’s Amazing Journey
Director/Writer/Editor
As he speaks in Japanese, yellow subtitles appear.
UEDA
“One of the biggest challenges with this film was that it was the first time…”
On set, Ueda watches film footage of a woman in a vest on the monitor as the crew films the scene nearby, then strides onto the set.
UEDA
“…this new virtual production technology has been used in Japan for theatrical use.”
Two red semi-circles float along the sides of a magenta background as text appears.
ON SCREEN TEXT: More Than a Screen
A relaxed Japanese man with a goatee and glasses interview in front of a dark background. A purple semi-circle with white text appears in front of him.
ON SCREEN TEXT: Masashi Hosoda
Technical Supervisor
Sony PCL Inc.
As he speaks in Japanese, yellow subtitles appear.
HOSODA
“Our virtual production system, which we used for the DIVOC-12 film links the LED wall, the camera…”
Two men stand in front of the virtual production screen, displaying a background of a martial arts studio with sunlight streaming through its windows. The view focuses in on the lens of a Sony branded camera, then a view finder aimed at the screen displaying a grid of dots.
HOSODA
“…game engine and camera tracking system.”
The pitch-black virtual production screen flickers to life, displaying a background of the inside of an industrial warehouse. A camera operator with long hair and a moustache swivels the camera, Hosoda standing beside him, then pulls the camera across the stage in front of the background of the plain.
HOSODA
“So when the camera moves, zooms, and focuses, the image on the screen changes in real time.”
Hosoda interviews, then film footage shows an actress in space pulling her fist back then punching an asteroid into fiery dust.
ON SCREEN TEXT: ©2021 Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc. All rights reserved.
HOSODA
“For example, there may be situations where it is difficult to film at a location, or the location is not accessible.”
A man in a porkpie hat drives a motorbike through a desert, a woman with wavy locks of hair clutching his waist.
HOSODA
“But you can use the LED wall as a window to anywhere and use computer graphics to recreate virtually any space.”
The view pulls back, revealing the actors to be on a stationary motorbike in front of an LED screen creating the effect of a moving bike. Now two members of the crew stand in front of the martial arts studio background, discussing a bench beneath a banner of kanji. Black and white footage shows a waitress in a café clearing glasses from a patron’s table. Ueda interviews in front of the dark background.
ON SCREEN TEXT: ©2021 Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc. All rights reserved.
UEDA
“One of the benefits of virtual production is you can feature scenes where the background changes seamlessly in one shot.”
A warrior in a white jumpsuit sprints through the martial arts studio, nun-chucks tucked beneath her arm. She leaps through the air and lands on the ground as the background switches to the warehouse. Ueda, Hosoda, and the camera operator gather around the camera, deep in conversation. Another member of the crew gazes past them thoughtfully.
ON SCREEN TEXT: ©2021 Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc. All rights reserved.
UEDA
“Using the latest technology in virtual production, we were able to shoot like never before.”
An actress hunches in front of the screen as decaying zombies and an eldritch fish monster spring to life in the office background behind her. The monsters are sucked up into the center of a giant blue clock as the woman grins and gestures with her hands.
ON SCREEN TEXT: ©2021 Sony Pictures Entertainment (Japan) Inc. All rights reserved.
Two red semi-circles appear in front of a magenta background. The left side has bold English text with Japanese kanji beneath it, and the right has a Sony logo.
ON SCREEN TEXT: FUTURE PROOF SONY
With a single high-pitched note, a bold Sony logo appears amidst watery blue light.
ON SCREEN TEXT: SONY