I have been working as a Virtual Production Specialist with MX MOVIES, helping them to design purpose-built movie studio projects from the design/development phase through to the construction phase implemented with the latest film industry technology — Industrial Light & Magic’s (ILM) StageCraft technology, which uses giant 20-foot-tall LED video screens to create fully digital environments as in-camera sets and backdrops. Star Wars’ The Mandalorian, a Disney+ exclusive, is the first-ever live-action Star Wars television series in the history of the franchise and is also the first production of the property that uses Epic Games’ Unreal Engine. Disney used Epic Games’ Unreal Engine to render real-time sets in The Mandalorian TV show.  The Mandalorian set had LED video walls used to provide “in-camera composites”. The SFX team projected pre-rendered content like environments on the LED walls, which served as dynamic green screens of sorts. ILM worked with Epic Games’ Unreal Engine to build these purely digital environments which were then projected around the actors and physical set elements (like spaceship parts or speeder bikes) to create the finished project. As part of that effect, those LED screens are actually then shot on camera for a seamless effect that replicates location shooting without the costs. (The 3D environments are specifically lit and rendered from the perspective of the camera to accomplish that.)

I am able to work remotely part time while I attend university, but I have decided to pause my internship while I attend university fulltime. MX MOVIES has confirmed that I am welcome to return to work for the company anytime.