Autodesk recently published a whitepaper on "The New Art of Virtual Moviemaking". It is a pretty impressive document, and covers much of what's happening on the virtual production front. It also makes a strong case for the kind of integrated approach that I think is so pivotal to the process, whether you're engaging with performance capture solutions or sticking with simpler forms of previsualization.
The basic idea of exploring a film virtually before committing to production decisions and continuing that process from early conceptualization through post-production is a key to raising quality-- not just of the film, but of the experience of everyone working on the film-- while also raising efficiency and reducing waste. Integrating all the departments through a single virtual space that can act as a crucible to hold and clarify all contributions allows a director and creative team to progressively refine the vision-- working in broad strokes, experimenting freely while the film is in a loose and flexible state and then tying it down and becoming more specific and honed as it advances through production and into the finishing stages.
As Autodesk neatly summarizes: "So profound is the impact of Virtual Moviemaking on the creative process that it will most certainly be felt across all departments and all levels of production by offering greater creative options and fostering a new collaborative environment to explore the moviemaking process."
This philosophy applies regardless of how fancy the actual tools are. And they can be very fancy and very cool! For more information, have a look at Autodesk's Virtual Movemaking Whitepaper.
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