Why you should care:

Traditional Filmmaking vs. Filmmaking in 2021

Let’s say you want to create a Taylor Swift Music Video like the one for her song “Look what you made me do” or “Blank Space” or an Ariana Grande music video or any other High-Budget music video.

Cost per music video like this is around $250,000. Why is that so high for a 3 min “short film”? Because she is shooting in multiple locations, needs to get the whole crew there for the shoot, let teams build huge film settings and having teams working a long time on VFX work (tracking, clone stamping, rotoscoping,…) in Post Production.

What, if I tell you that you can shoot an unlimited amount of videos with a ONE-TIME budget of $2,500 instead of $250,000 for only one video using Virtual Production with Unreal Engine?

That would mean:

Taylor Swift’s label would have to pay $2,500,000 for 10 music videos.

And you would only pay $2,500 for 10 music videos.

In addition you would be done in a fraction of time and with a CO2 output close to ZERO compared to all the travel emission for the whole Taylor Swift crew.

And I share even ways in my class that are completely free. You only need a good PC.

Don’t loose track on changes in the industry. Virtual Production is the future is here!

The thing is…

While it may sound stupid from Taylor Swift’s production company to spend so much money on a music video when it’s not needed, is not true.

But when they shot these music videos the technique was simply just not there where it is today.

And the industry is not sleeping.

When the pandemic hit the industry in 2020 (and luckily graphics cards became powerful enough) the VFX company that does a lot of work for Taylor Swift’s music video and also Ariana Grande, Lady Gaga, etc… invested in the same Virtual Production System as I did the same year.

They saw that the world is transitioning quickly away from real settings to virtual settings.

They see that the advantages are so extreme that they have to adapt.

Not only the extreme cost savings, much shorter production timelines but also less people needed, remote work possible and a VFX workflow never seen before in realtime!!

Compete with High-Budget Productions

What’s new this time is that we Indie Filmmakers & Youtube Video Producer get the same tools on our hands that were previously exclusive available for big production companies.

As I said before I got exactly the same Virtual Production System as the VFX company that makes Taylor Swift’s High-Budget music-videos.

I’m talking about the Vanishing Point System for Virtual Production for camera tracking and All-in-One software solution with integration for Unreal Engine. Of course I’m using Unreal Engine as well. It’s free for all of us (of course that’s a big deal as well).

And there are many other great solutions out there today.

Some people already know the HTC Vive Trackers, but there are even cheaper and better solutions out there.

What Budget do I need?

You can start with a good Gaming PC, your camera with HDMI Out, an $18 USB to HDMI converter and a $170 Tracking Sensor (optional).

And you can get really great results with this minimalistic setup!!

How does that work?

Instead of building film sets or traveling to the shooting location in France and then to the next location in the Sahara Desert you build your set virtual using the game engine Unreal Engine. (You can also simply use one of near-unlimited pre-made settings you can get in the Unreal Marketplace for a couple of bugs).

Then you have 2 options:

1. You use a big LED wall as your PC monitor that projects your created setting as a background for your actors

or

2. You use a green screen as background, but have a small monitor on your camera rig that can also record what you see there and then do the green-screen key in real-time and see the composite of your actor + your setting created in Unreal Engine.

But what’s the difference to green screen?

Well… it’s like green screen on steroids.

Green Screen is used by Hollywood and filmmakers all around the world for VFX works very successfully. But they are about to transition to Virtual Production. Why?

There are many more advantages over the traditional green screen work. Thanks to the workflow in real-time!

Possibilities that you have never seen before

As you can imagine building a scene virtual within the computer that looks incredible realistic is so much more cost and time efficient than building real sets and traveling to shooting locations.

Suddenly you literally have access to multi-million dollar sets and can use multiple of them on the same day.

But there is even one more bonus and that’s a big one!

In addition to have this incredible set for your real life actors you can also use virtual scenes only in your final video.

Let me explain what that means and why it‘s a big deal.

Mixed-Reality vs. Virtual Only

There are 2 game changing ways for unlimited possibilities:

1. You can use a multi-million dollar set as your setting for your real-life actors.

2. You can create scenes that are 100% virtual.

(Scenes where you don’t need real-life actors or scenes with virtual characters)

And the best thing is you can mix it all together.

Let’s say you are shooting in a 50s American diners. In one scene you have a man and a woman having a conversation at the bar. Or as in the following example an artist performing in this 50s Diners. This is the mixed-reality scene. The diners is virtual and the actors are real.

Then there should be a close-up shot of the grill, which zooms out to the outside of the Diners and transitions into a horizontal camera move. This one can be virtual only.

That way you can create camera shots never been possible before. (Especially not on a Indie budget)

Save time on set and make changes to your scene after the shoot took place.

SPONSOR OPPORTUNITY: Let’s say a whiskey brand became last minute sponsor of the video, you can simply put the new bottle in the scene. Brands often have a virtual 3D version of their products ready to use or you can even get some on 3D marketplaces like Sketchfab or CGTrader that you can use in your project.

Why Unreal Engine?

What’s the difference to other 3D applications?

Epic Games, the creator of Unreal Engine, has a strong focus on providing new possibilities for filmmakers and supporting the film industry. More and more production companies are transitioning to Virtual Production using Unreal Engine.

But why Unreal Engine?

Why not another 3D software like Cinema4D, Blender or Maya?

Because Unreal Engine is a real-time render software.

When I heard about Unreal Engine first I was wondering what people meant when they said “Wow! The future is real-time”.

The thing is very easy. It’s just not possible yet in other 3D applications like Blender or Maya to move through the 3D world in a very high quality without rendering each frame, which takes a long time for each frame.

In Unreal Engine everything just looks great without extra render time, when you output your scene through HDMI or SDI Output of your computer (capture card needed. But we talk about it later).

Lighting, reflections, objects,…. The quality is just amazing.

The Unreal Engine real-time render quality

(It’s hard to tell if it‘s real an unreal):

Produce Wherever You Want

The equipment I chose is 100% mobile. Well, I do work with a Desktop PC, but it’s still easy to bring it into another studio to shoot.

But what makes it special is that both, my Vanishing Point Tracking System and also my Mocap Suit work without fixed studio installations and I can simply put it and go and record in another room or another place. Even outside! This can be very interesting for Mixed-Reality Scenes where you want to shoot a virtual object/character in a real world.

And for Body Motion Capture it’s great because you can record huge motion for example a very long running scene, when you character is running through a desert.

Most of the time I produce in my little 9”x11” room at home. It’s very tiny and not ideal for virtual production. More place for lighting and camera work would be great.

But what I want to show with this is how minimalistic virtual production really is. With how little recourses and effort you can create high-budget looking movies, short films and music videos.

And to be honest… I live in the heart of Hollywood and renting a 1000–4000 sf studio space with high ceilings costs around $20,000-40,000/month.

And there’s another reason…

I just like it :)

I mean getting from your bedroom in the kitchen to grab a coffee and then immediately start the first shift in the studio without showering…

I mean I don’t want to share this picture with you but this lifestyle is just great!

Don’t miss the opportunity to gain a competitive advantage. You Should Start Now!

Build Your Own Indie Virtual Production Studio

Since there a not a lot of learning recourses out there to build a Virtual Production Studio on an indie level, we see a lot of “tests” and “unfinished projects” but not much real virtual production work.

The hardware is powerful enough now.

The software is ready.

But a lot of small studios are still trying to figure things out.

They are searching for a setup and workflow that just works.

And the good news is: It’s here!

I finished the work that Epic Games started with their “Virtual Production Primer”.

I’m using the same pipeline, the same equipment:

• Powerful Desktop PC
• Unreal Engine
• Vanishing Point System for Virtual Production (incl. Decklink Capture Card)
• Blackmagic Design Camera
• Lastolite Green Screen
• Reallusion Character Creator & iClone
• Rokoko Mocap Suit

This is all hard- & software for an Indie budget (around $10,000 - $25,000).

But, as I mentioned before, I had more question after watching the Virtual Production Primer than before.

It took me a long time, but I found answers.

And I decided to share all these answers with you!

The Thing is: It does NOT just work “out of the box”.

The equipment the companies deliver are not just plug and play.

Yes, they sell the dream.

They say “it’s easy, fun and playful.”

But it’s not.

For example, when I got my Rokoko Mocap suit and started to make my first recordings. The result where horrible. And it took me a long time back and forth with Rokoko support to learn that it‘s not that easy and that some things shouldn’t be possible for me.

But I didn’t give up!

And today I’m proud to be one of the few people who get really great & professional results with their Rokoko Mocap suit.

The challenges of building a virtual production studio

I started with the Unreal Engine “Virtual Production Primer” and was totally excited what a bright future would be ahead of us. I know that Virtual Reality is becoming more and more popular and will affect more and more markets. I knew that now is the time to switch and start with Virtual Production. Not only because of the pandemic, but for the future of filmmaking.

Learning all the stuff took me nearly a year since there was (and still is) not much information about important details out there. There are still too many many small problems that are not addressed. For example the official “Virtual Production Primer” from Epic Games was great, motivational and I learned a lot. But I had more questions after watching than before.

A lot of information is hidden in hundreds of 1-3 hour long webinars.

And some information (for example when it comes to great hair on virtual characters or doing the composite in post instead of real-time) is just not out there.

Finally after more than a year, we not only produced our first music videos (both Virtual & Mixed Reality), but after producing everything at home, we finally are about to build our Indie Virtual Production Studio in the heard of Hollywood. It will be the first studio in the Hollywood media district since other VP Studios are outside of Los Angeles.

And with all that information gathered it would be a pity to keep it all by myself. Today I’m proud to announce that I will share everything I learned and everything you need to build and technical operate your own or your companies professional Virtual Production Studio on an Indie Budget!

And it becomes even better.

With this online class comes an exclusive personalized coupon code for the best Tracking System for Indie Virtual Production that saves you more money than you need to invest in this class. (See Bonus Section below)

Learn Virtual Production &

Unreal Engine from A to B!