The Expanse: Season 3

We at Cinema Suite recently had a chance to work with the creators of the SciFi series The Expanse on a very cool VR previsualization related project.

What better way to celebrate the launch of Season 3 tomorrow (April 11th) , then to discuss how the folks at The Expanse wanted to experiment with a new way to previsualize shots using VR (Virtual Reality)!

Last year the director of art production contacted us to see if we would be interested in assisting the team in creating VR storyboards for The Expanse, since they had already been creating all of their set designs in Unity, and using the HTC Vive to explore the sets virtually. Of course, this is right up our alley. So, we got to work on a custom version of Cinema Pro Cams that is specifically tuned to work in VR.

More and more television and film projects are being shot on virtual sets. Meaning, the actors are acting on a green screen. This can be a great way to portray environments that would otherwise be costly or difficult to portray. However, in using this method you miss out on the ability to walk around your set and view it with a cameras viewfinder. That’s where Cinema Pro Cams VR comes in.

Cinema Pro Cams: VR

Cinema Pro Cams is our professional camera and lens tool kit for the Unity game engine. We developed it by working with motion picture industry researchers to make sure everything in Cinema Pro Cams complies to real world constraints. It is already a great way create previsualize scenes, but Pro Cams VR takes it to a whole other level. With Pro Cams VR, you use one of the controllers like a camera viewfinder to frame the shot. You adjust camera settings like the focal length, aperture, and film format and the viewfinder will update to reflect your settings. Perfect for VR previsualization using associated headsets.

The Expanse: VR Previsualization

Karl Crosby is the set designer of Season 3 of The Expanse, and approached Cinema Suite about creating a solution specifically for the set designers and directors. Karl was excited about using Pro Cams VR on the show:

“As far as I know The Expanse is the first television production to be using VR as a set design tool. Actors have used it to get a direct feel for what is otherwise a green screen set. Directors have been able to block the action on a set before it is built. The DoP has been able to pre-light the sets. The Cinema Suite team worked with us to develop a plugin to capture images with correct aspect ratio, lens and F-stop while virtually walking around the sets. This helped enormously at the planning stage. I feel were are on the cutting edge of what will be an industry standard over the next few years.”

Manny Danelon, the producer of The Expanse also chimed in about using VR Previsualization:

“As the producer on “The Expanse”, it falls to me to make decisions on where to invest our resources in the most helpful way possible. I could not be any happier with the decision to support our VR suite and the Cinema Suite Team. The advantage this has given us in planning our sets, lighting and shots cannot be surpassed.

Our team used it to envision sets before they were constructed. Our Production Designer made sure his design gave production the visual aspects the sets deserved. Our DP used it for placement of lights. Our Set Decorators made sure the flooring worked amongst the other items placed in sets within the VR world even before the sets were constructed. Our Directors used the tools to create their vision within the VR world, which translated wonderfully in the real world. We even had a VR set up in the Writer’s room so they could write to the sets and use their words to enhance the visual world of “The Expanse”.

A great tool for a new world and a must use tool for the future!”

We’re looking forward to providing Cinema Pro Cams VR to more TV and Movie productions, and we can’t wait to see what great ideas are brought to life on screen. As a matter of fact, Cinema Pro Cams VR is now being used on the new hit show from Starz, American Gods!

Are you interested in working with Cinema Suite to bring your VR/AR/MR project to life? Contact us!