The Yongchuan Virtual Production Studio of DAWA in Chongqing (China) is driving a new phase in technology-driven filmmaking in the western region of the country.
For Phase II, Brompton Technology’s Tessera LED video processing has been selected to support the facility’s advanced LED workflows, in collaboration with AOTO Electronics.
Located in the urban area of Yongchuan District, next to a high-speed rail station and a major transport hub, the complex offers excellent connectivity, just 15 minutes by high-speed rail from central Chongqing and 50 minutes from Chengdu. With the Yongchuan Virtual Production Studio at its core, the project is positioned to establish a solid national base in the digital audiovisual industry and become a hub for technology-driven filmmaking in western China.
Since the start of the project, the facility has grown rapidly in both scale and capabilities. Phase I, completed and commissioned in May 2023, has a total built area of 20,000 m², including 6,000 m² of soundstage space. It includes a 3,000 m² virtual production studio and a 3,000 m² practical set construction studio, along with make-up rooms, offices, meeting rooms, rehearsal spaces and other functional facilities. Phase II, completed in 2025, expanded the complex to five standard soundstages, including two high-tech studios, adding 32,800 m² of stage space and enabling the simultaneous operation of more than three mid-to-large-scale production crews. The overall Phase II project covers approximately 28,330 m², extending the campus with additional infrastructure such as prop fabrication areas, post-production facilities, production offices, crew accommodation, warehouses and multipurpose spaces.
At the heart of the virtual production environment is AOTO’s RM1.9 LED display series, supported by Brompton’s Tessera platform. The main configuration features a 60-metre-wide by 10-metre-high curved LED wall, complemented by four movable extension screens measuring 7 x 4.5 metres each, enabling rapid scene changes and high on-set flexibility.
To process and distribute content across the entire LED volume, Brompton has supplied 30 Tessera SX40 4K LED video processors and 60 Tessera XD 10G data distribution units. For the DAWA Studio team, the value of Tessera lies in ensuring that the LED image captured by the camera is free from visual defects such as flicker, scan lines or artefacts, which, as noted by Tiezheng Yang, Production Director at Dawa (Chongqing) Imaging Technology Co., Ltd., constitutes “a fundamental requirement for high-end virtual production”. ShutterSync® synchronises the LED refresh rate with the camera shutter to eliminate these visual artefacts, while the Extended Bit Depth feature enhances dynamic range in shadow areas, enabling significantly greater detail capture in low-light regions.
On a stage like this, everything depends on what the camera sees. We needed a processing platform that would give us confidence in clean on-camera capture, especially when productions are working with demanding shutter and lighting settings. Brompton Technology is the processor of choice for many of the world’s leading virtual production stages, both domestically and internationally. This extensive and proven global adoption provides strong confidence in our technology decisions. Features such as ShutterSync and the ability to preserve detail in darker areas were key reasons for choosing Tessera LED processors, explains Yang.
Beyond image integrity, Tessera supports advanced colour management to meet the requirements of a wide range of productions, from commercials to feature films. The platform supports professional colour spaces such as ACEScg, DCI-P3 and BT.2020, and enables real-time colour adjustments via on-set grading systems like Pomfort Livegrade, supporting a true real-time workflow. In multi-camera setups, Frame Remapping allows cameras operating at different frame rates to capture correctly from a single LED volume simultaneously, expanding creative flexibility and improving shooting efficiency.
“Virtual production reaches its full potential when it combines creative flexibility with operational reliability”, says Sebastian Kanabar, Head of Sales (APAC) at Brompton Technology. “DAWA Studio’s Yongchuan facility represents a significant investment in technology-driven filmmaking, and Tessera is designed for this type of environment, delivering clean on-camera performance, precise colour control and multi-camera efficiency, along with the stability studios require day after day, while continuously evolving through software updates to protect long-term investment”.
Focused on virtual production technology, the facility integrates systems such as XR, VP and motion capture, along with a second virtual production pipeline based on real-time chroma key workflows. The complex also includes a digital human platform and an on-site real-time rendering and intelligent computing centre with 1,000 servers. The project holds more than 200 patents and intellectual property rights, and to date a total investment of RMB 1 billion (nearly £109 million) has been made in the construction of the Yongchuan Virtual Production Studio.
The studio’s virtual production system is designed to reduce the cost of filming complex scenes, such as sci-fi or fantasy productions, by up to 90% compared to traditional methods, while also improving overall shooting efficiency by more than 55%. This is driving the transition of virtual production from an experimental approach to a standardised and repeatable production tool.
Since its opening, the studio has hosted more than 50 high-quality film and television productions, including Project P, Resurrection, The Day I Happened to Come Back, among others.
Chongqing, known as a “natural film set” and dubbed an “8D cyberpunk city”, is now attracting productions from across the country thanks to cutting-edge virtual production technology, turning creative imagination directly into on-screen reality. Plans for Phase III are already underway, with commissioning expected by late 2026 or early 2027. Even more new technologies will be introduced. The future is worth looking forward to, says Chenliang, COO at Dawa (Chongqing) Imaging Technology Co., Ltd.
“Yongchuan is a clear example of how virtual production is scaling rapidly, and we are excited to see how DAWA Studio supports everything from commercial projects to premium film and TV productions as the facility continues to evolve”, concludes Kanabar.
