China Film Virtual Stage (CFVS), the first virtual production stage in China, recently opened a brand new 800 sq meter green screen stage to offer Chinese clients the most advanced virtual set shooting services for both movie and TV episodic shows. Powered by the latest Previzion systems from Lightcraft Technology, CFVS provides real-time pre-visualization of final shots to its clients. A film or television crew shooting on green-screen, for the first time in China, will be able to see both the live action and CGI elements in context, during the shooting.
CFVS is a part of China Film Studio, the flagship facility of the China Film Co., Ltd., and is located in Huairou District, Beijing. The Digital Production branch of the studio, previously known as Hualong Digital Film Production Company, has been regarded as the industry leader in production quality since its establishment in 2000.
Wang Jianxiong, CTO of China Film Studio says, "It has been a while since we first wanted to use real-time graphics for visual effects shooting. We had tried to use virtual set technology to do fast plate layout for explosion scenes in a war movie back in 2004. However, the other virtual set systems we tested before Previzion were all meant for TV news programming, so it was really difficult to get them to fit into a movie production workflow. In contrast, Previzion works well with our shooting and post production workflow. The quality of the real-time composite is also considerably better. And more importantly, using Previzion helps the filming crew work more closely with the VFX team."
According to the MPAA, China had become in 2012 the world's 2nd largest movie market in terms of box office revenue. About half that revenue was from domestic movies, 80% of which were shot and/or processed at China Film Studio. "Shooting in the newly opened CFVS, directors and DOP's will be able to see the visual effects using their own eyes, not using their imaginations. They will find it very helpful," says Wang Jianxiong. "We look forward to getting more VFX shows done at CFVS, with world-class quality, and with record-breaking efficiency!"
Eliot Mack , Lightcraft's founder and system architect states: "China Film Studio has a very aggressive agenda to bring Chinese film up to the best international standards. For sophisticated visual effects segments that rely heavily on green screen technology, Previzion is the perfect tool for China Film Studio. They can use the full advantage of our precision camera tracking, sophisticated rendering, and high quality keying, all in real time."
About the China Film Studio
China Film Studio ("The State Digital Production Base of China Film Group") is a subsidiary of China Film Co., Ltd. Covering an area of 130 acres, China Film Studio is the home to 16 fully-equipped sound stages, ranging in size from 800 sq. meters to 5000 sq. meters. In addition to sound stages, backlots, equipment rental, sound post production, visual effects, and post production are also provided on campus. The studio was established in 2005 with the aim of the advancement of digital production technologies in filmmaking in China, together with the production of more high quality movies. It is now the most advanced facility in China.
About Lightcraft Technology
Lightcraft Technology was founded in 2004 by Eliot Mack to bridge the technology and on-set production worlds. A graduate of MIT, Eliot has worked at Walt Disney Imagineering and iRobot. In 2004, Eliot followed his interests in visual effects and motion tracking and founded Lightcraft Technology, applying robotic techniques to the motion picture industry to create what would become the Previzion virtual studio system. Developed with co-founder and software architect Phil Mass , Previzion is a real time visual effects system that provides a combination of high precision camera tracking, sophisticated rendering, and VFX quality keying that makes it the ideal solution for use in on-set compositing of virtual backgrounds and CGI characters.