Latin America. To achieve the broad virtual production dynamics of "Pinocchio," the remake of Disney's animated classic, Ultimatte 12 composers and Blackmagic Design's HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro recorders were used.
Starring Tom Hanks as Gepetto, the new version of "Pinocchio" mixes real images with digitized content and chronicles the incredible life of a wooden puppet who becomes a real child. For this film, one of the most complex virtual production dynamics ever seen in feature film making was adopted, including various sets at London's Cardington Stage Studios.
Jim Geduldick, director and vice president of Dimension Studio in North America, was responsible for overseeing the virtual production of "Pinocchio." Together with his team, he was in charge of integrating Simulcam technology, used to compose virtual objects and real images, with the 3D digital creations generated in Unreal Engine, allowing team members and artists to control or react to virtual objects in real time. Although this combination had already been implemented in productions of this style, Geduldick had the challenge of doing it with a complexity never seen before.
To achieve his goal, Geduldick installed Ultimatte 12, Ultimatte Smart Remote 4 and HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro devices on multiple carts that could be moved very quickly to wherever they needed on set.
"No one had ever tried to do this in multiple studies for three months straight. A lot was happening every day, so we needed to make sure we had a car where we could take it where it was needed," Geduldick said. "It wouldn't have been possible without the Ultimatte or HyperDeck devices."
Each cart included several HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro recorders and Ultimatte 12 and Ultimatte Smart Remote 4 composers. At first, Geduldick used two Ultimatte 12s for each Simulcam signal, but thanks to improvements in the operating system of the Blackmagic Design composers, at the end of production, he was able to use only one.
"In the work dynamics, the Simulcam technique was used with layers of computerized images and augmented reality, as well as an Ultimatte 12 composer. Then, the images were integrated into Unreal Engine, in real time. It was possible to have close-up and background images on a single Ultimatte device, and we relied on this model's hardware-based processing to transmit the composition immediately to the Unreal system," Geduldick observed.
He added: "The real-time composition with Ultimatte is second to none. By being able to download everything to the hardware, we use less data, and this is used elsewhere in the study where it is needed."
HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro devices were used to create custom playlists, playback and record content. This helped create a dynamic in which virtual elements and specific lighting systems were reproduced using Unreal Engine.
"The processing with Simulcam and Ultimatte was amazing. The cinematographer, visual effects supervisor, and camera operators knew where they needed to be located, because they could see the image in the Ultimatte composer. We decided on the lighting and ambience right there on set. Virtual productions only work if you can react and make creative decisions in real time, something that is possible with Blackmagic Design products," concluded Geduldick.
