Virtual intuition
“You bring up a menu system on your left controller and that can revolve through a whole variety of scenarios,” Joe explains. “What we are working on is an entire menu devoted just to the grip department or set construction or lighting or camera. So when you go to camera you can load up a real-life dolly system with a real ALEXA camera body and then add specific lenses that are matched to real-life lenses. You’re restricted by real-world filmmaking tools, which cause you to make better decisions in the virtual world too.”
“You can also combine motioncontrol suits that don’t require all the light-sensing cameras,” explains Joe. “We have two volumes set up so one person is wearing a motion-capture suit and a headset; they can look down at themselves and see the character they’re playing. For instance, a person could look down and see themselves as King Louie and they would be 20 feet off the ground because scale is irrelevant in the virtual world. Then the user in the other volume can be looking up at King Louie played by the motioncapture person, and the two of them can see and interact with each other in real-time. Baby steps have been made that will allow other films to be done in a more intuitive way.”
“Filmmakers are often scared off by visual effects technology because there’s this void between the people who do that and the people who make the film,” observes Joe. “If we could allow them to make those decisions Tangerine Apps created promotional footage that enabled viewers to virtually encounter a dangerous and cunning creature by placing them in the actual location and provide the tools that they’ve been using for 20 to 30 years, they’ll make intuitive decisions. You could have the talent in mocap suits or on a green-screen stage and be holding a physical camera
A person could look down and see themselves as King Louie and they would be 20 feet off the ground
wearing a headset, seeing and filming them in the virtual environment. You’re basically making a film, like you would traditionally, but it’s accessible to people who don’t normally have access to it.” Find out more about the studio: www.tangerineapps.com “This scene is the Mission in Carmel. We used photogrammetry to rebuild the courtyard so we could test our film tools using a real location,” says Joe Farrell