The summit, put together by Disguise and Film Soho, included free training, hands-on access to tech solutions, talks and demos.
In its first year at Cannes, the Global Virtual Production Summit was a huge success, bringing together studio heads, filmmakers and technology providers to discuss the latest new developments in film and virtual production. Created in partnership with Film Soho, Marché du Film and Cannes Next, the summit featured talks, demos and workshops on the future of entertainment with studio heads and filmmakers at Paramount, Framestore, Nordisk Film and more. Also attracting major attention was the premiere of Murals, an immersive visual experience that uses cutting-edge 3D scanning to place viewers face-to-face with the war devastation in Ukraine.
A key highlight was the session with director Sadie Frost and film critic and broadcaster Anna Smith, where they discussed the making of the feature film Twiggy and how they used virtual production to transport Twiggy herself to Carnaby Street in the 1960s. Frost had only wrapped production on the scene the day before in Cannes, saying: “As a filmmaker, I feel honoured to be able to use this ground-breaking technology to transport Twiggy back to 1968!”
Another major highlight was disguise’s hands-on Virtual Production Accelerator workshop. Disguise offered in-depth training on everything from lighting techniques to the colour science behind LED walls. Hosted in a dedicated virtual production studio running on the disguise real-time production platform, the course took participants on a journey from fundamental technical knowledge to onset production techniques and beyond, enhancing skills with backgrounds such as video plates, 2.5D and Unreal Engine scenes. By the end of the day, participants had the essential in-camera VFX knowledge to break into this emerging sector.
“The Cannes Film Festival is integral to the history of the movie industry. That’s why, as lovers of film, we’re delighted to be a part of how the festival is embracing the future,” said Alex Wills, CXO at disguise. “Our team has years of experience helping creatives and technicians work with LED volumes to create films and shows for studios like Netflix, Warner Bros. Discovery and Amazon Studios. By launching Cannes’ first virtual production summit, we hope to use all we’ve learned to help the next generation of filmmakers tell stories that don’t just blur the line between real and virtual, but also between the audience and the big screen.”
Another interesting panel was ‘How to Master the Creative, Technical and Visual Power of Virtual Production’ with Dark Matters, disguise and Framestore discussing how VP can be a powerful tool, but only through deep experimentation and immediate engagement with the technology – with that, every department can be brought on the journey and ensure the VFX serves the story being told.
The practical part of virtual production was also a hot topic in the panel discussions titled ‘Investing & Managing the Virtual Production Business: What Producers, Funds, Policymakers & Studios Need to Know’ and ‘To Shoot Traditional vs Virtual? The ABC of Virtual Production for Independent Filmmakers’. Cinematographer Kathryn Brilhart, director Armin Kurasz, Nordisk Film, The Magic Camera Company, Rubicon TV, Ready Set Studio and Screenskills all contributed their thoughts
To highlight the future possibilities of virtual production, several technologies were showcased, including the Invisible Solution, an AI-driven marker-less mocap technology built in collaboration with Move.ai. By making it easy for an actor to map their movements onto a digital character in real time, Invisible can be used to drive digital twins, gesture-triggered particle effects like smoke and fire, and even avatars in metaverse experiences. An exclusive reception was also hosted by the disguise team, where they unveiled the teaser for the company’s first virtual production short, Space Ryder.
Chris Greenhill, co-founder and Director of Film Soho, said, “We are delighted to be official partners of Marché du Film and Cannes Next at this year’s festival and to be collaborating with our friends at disguise to curate this incredible global event!”
Annabel Martin, Director of V-Studios and Operations at Film Soho, added, “V-Studios is hugely proud to be at the forefront of this cutting-edge technology, bringing our 1.5mm pixel pitch LED screen powered by disguise from London to Cannes, exclusively for the first Cannes Film Festival Global Virtual Production Summit.”
