Go for engaging, not virtual, content

Go for engaging, not virtual, content

February 09, 2022 By The Connect

Metaverse would depend on how much it is able to engage the viewer as the, says WWI Vice President & CTO, Chaitanya Chinchlikar

MUMBAI, Feb 08 (The CONNECT) - The International Broadcasting Convention, commonly, known by its initials IBC, conducted an online panel discussion hosted by the Society of Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE) on ‘Exploring the Rules of the Road for Virtual Production’ at Whistling Woods International (WWI).

On the panel for the session were members of SMPTE’s Rapid Industry Solutions On Set Virtual Production Initiative - WWI Vice President & CTO, Chaitanya Chinchlikar; Paola Sunna, EBU Technology & Innovation; Stephan Heimbecher, Technology, and Production Directorate, EBU and Gregg Young, Project Leader, VRT Innovative.

The interactive session, as part of its Annual Conference – IBCShow 2021-22, discussed the emerging filmmaking workflow of Virtual Production, and its technical and creative aspects. All new workflows lead content creation teams to paths filled with unexpected technical traffic jams, which need content creators to learn new things. The panel was an initiative to provide guidance & insights on the same.

Elaborating on the crucial aspect of how rapidly Virtual Production is expected to get into wide-scale adoption, Chinchlikar stated that “Education is the key. Virtual production allows one to do things faster, cheaper, and more efficiently than before. It also enables one to ideate content creation in a way, that one was not able to do before.”

“The faster we are able to roll out structured education which can enable content creators to do both, the faster we see Virtual Production become ubiquitous in the industry,” he said.

He also emphasised the judicial use of Virtual Production and insisted that there is a role that VP fulfils in the filmmaking pipeline and should be used only when required and not just because it is available.

Towards the end of the session, the discussion also included some conversation about the Metaverse and Chaitanya spoke of the technological developments of the past decades which have immersed the viewer more & more into the content they consume and how the metaverse was the next step in that journey.

He warned though that the success of the metaverse would depend on how much it is able to engage the viewer as the immersive-ness of the experience will wear off eventually. The session was concluded by highlighting the need to constantly create engaging content in the new tech world.