The Future of Production Amplified: ETC@USC Takes Virtual Production into the Cloud with “Fathead”

With the ability to create immersive virtual environments and integrate live-action footage in real time, virtual production has opened up new creative possibilities for filmmakers, allowing them to bring to life stories and worlds that were previously impossible to create. Meanwhile, cloud-based workflows have enabled remote collaboration and streamlined production pipelines, reducing costs and increasing efficiency.

Aimed at pushing the boundaries of virtual production and cloud-based workflows, the Entertainment Technology Center at USC (ETC@USC) has unveiled the first part of a new white paper, “Cloud Computing: Growth without Bounds,” about the fifth short film to emerge from its ETC Innovation and Technology Grant program.

Fathead, a 20-minute short film directed by USC School of Cinematic Arts graduate c. Craig Patterson, showcases the potential of virtual production, addressing questions about how to optimize workflows to essentially eliminate travel and minimize the number of on-set participants. Produced almost entirely in the cloud, Fathead was shot on Stage 15, Amazon’s new 34,000-square-foot virtual production facility in Culver City. Powered by cloud-based virtual workstations and rendering services from AWS, the project employed Epic Games’ real-time rendering software Unreal Engine along with Unreal’s MetaHuman Creator to generate digital human characters.

As part of NAB Amplify’s video series, “The Future of Production Amplified,” NAB Amplify content partner Jennifer Wolfe chats with Erik Weaver, director of adaptive and virtual production at ETC@USC and executive producer of Fathead, about how the short film was brought to life and its importance as a proof of concept for what’s possible in virtual production and cloud-based workflows.

“We did everything in the cloud, from creation of assets to global coordination of teams and effort through to basically complete environments and virtual art departments and builds, and, finally, shooting on set, obviously, but then doing real-time to the cloud,” Weaver says. “We were able to stream ARRI Alexa raw directly to the cloud, which ended up being faster than writing in the backup drives.”

In Part 1 of our Q&A, Weaver explains why the making of Fathead is significant from a technological standpoint, and its place as the first part of a series of white papers exploring virtual production in the cloud. He also talks about some the biggest challenges to getting Fathead made, as well as what we can expect from the future of film and television production.

Watch Part 1 below:

In Part 2, Weaver describes what it was like to shoot Fathead on Stage 15, Amazon’s new 34,000-square-foot virtual production stage in Culver City, along with the cloud-based workflow the production team employed. He also discusses the lightning-fast ingest speeds for raw ARRI files, how audio was handled in order to avoid additional ADR sessions, and some of the key people involved in the production, as well as how they recreated an entire junkyard on Stage 15.

Watch Part 2 below:

In Part 3, Weaver talks about some of lessons learned from making Fathead including how crucial planning is in on-set virtual production, with “fix it in pre” becoming the new mantra. He also discusses how cloud-based workflows will impact color grading and other post-production processes, as well as the increasing use of digital characters in film and television production. Finally, he identifies some of the biggest barriers to employing virtual production and cloud-based workflows in today’s current ecosystem.

Watch Part 3 below:

Connect with Erik Weaver on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter. You can also follow ETC@USC on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and learn more about the organization and its mission at www.etcenter.org.