airbanner

DNEG and Brompton Technology partner to forge new virtual production worlds

DNEG is one of the world’s leading visual effects and animation companies, honoured with five Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects for its visionary work on Inception, Interstellar, Ex Machina, Blade Runner 2049 and First Man.

In 2013, it set up a TV episodic arm to expand its offering, which has grown exponentially with the boom of streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Apple TV Plus. In recent years, and further driven by the impact of COVID-19, the company has developed its offering in virtual production - an exciting venture that has led to a close collaboration with Brompton Technology.

DNEG’s amplified focus in the area, and an upscaling in its work on episodic shows in addition to its traditional film work, involved creating a new in-house studio environment tailored to virtual production. This required the company to do some due diligence on the tech they were bringing into the fold.

“We are seeing more and more filmmakers becoming interested in the developing possibilities for virtual production,” explains Paul Salvini, Global CTO, DNEG. “This interest has intensified in the last few months due to the effects of social distancing on travel and the number of people that can safely be on set. Our team was excited to work with Brompton because of their expertise and a shared passion for excellence and innovation.”

The Brompton team has worked closely with DNEG’s virtual production team, and particularly Head of Virtual Production Isaac Partouche, for the past nine months. “We’ve developed a great working relationship with DNEG, working closely with the entire virtual production team from the start to give them a thorough understanding of how to get the best out of their LED panels on set,” says Brompton Technology’s Technical Project Manager, Adam Callaway.

 

Partouche has been supervising DNEG’s virtual staging requirements for its upcoming shows and remarks on the importance of having Brompton on set with the team

 

“The Tessera SX40 4K processors have been a great addition to our virtual production set-up,” says Partouche. “The image processing is impressively fast, the ‘Genlock’ options synchronize the content correctly across the LED volume with significantly less latency response and by using Brompton’s Hydra dynamic calibration tools we’re able to get the best HDR results from the wall.”

DNEG’s technology requirements are moving rapidly to cater to client demand, and the company has already provided virtual production services for Kenneth Branagh’s new take on Death On The Nile and Andy Serkis’ sequel to blockbuster Venom, as well as director Denis Villeneuve’s highly anticipated re-imagining of Dune.

It may interest you

You still do not have an account? Register now!

Access to your account