Dodge College of Film and Media Arts makes waves with LED virtual production

Chapman’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is aiming to prepare students for the future of film with the acquisition of an LED wall. Courtesy of Austina Wang

The Dodge College of Film and Media Arts is delving into unfamiliar territories and mystical lands with the purchase of a new state-of-the-art LED wall. With this new addition, the college is moving to incorporate virtual production into its curriculum to prepare students for the industry. 

“Dodge always likes to be on the high end of technology and to give industry standard tools to students,” Dan Leonard, Dodge’s associate dean said. “We think it’s the future of where the entertainment industry is going, and it’ll get cheaper, better and faster as it goes, so we want to give students hands-on applications with the actual gear that the industry is using.”

Virtual production is taking the film and television industry by a storm after Disney Plus successfully utilized the technique to create a galaxy far, far away in “Star Wars” live-action series, “The Mandalorian.” In the series, main character Din Djarin (played by Pedro Pascal) explores immersive desert planets. Typically, these landscapes would be filmed against a green screen and added during post-production. 

However, with the incorporation of virtual production, actors can be transported into places unimaginable by performing in front of an LED backdrop, putting them right at the heart of computer generated worlds.

“I want to push the boundaries of what art and technology can do when combined, so it was kind of a no-brainer that I wanted to do my next project in virtual production,” said Austina Wang, a senior animation and visual effects major. “Despite (the fact that) I hadn’t had any experience with shooting on the wall.”

Wang was one of the first students to shoot with the LED wall for her thesis film, “Ceratosaurus,” which follows the adventure of a girl and her dinosaur. While she was excited to be able to use the new technology to customize the setting of her film to her desire, Wang said she encountered more problems than benefits, which ended up being her most valuable takeaway from the experience.

“Everyone’s kind of learning this together. What you’re doing here is trailblazing, so to speak,” Wang said. “Essentially, what the professionals are struggling with are what the students are struggling with as well.”

Animation students are not the only ones affected by this addition. Production design professor Richard Holland is incorporating the technology into his concept art class to prepare students to think of ways they can enhance the usage of the LED backdrop with props and miniatures. He said while the ability to use Unreal Engine — the platform used to create the computer generated worlds projected onto the wall — is intrinsic to the visual effects department, the production design department is of equal importance in making the set look realistic.

“It’s not just all about visual effects and the Unreal Engine; it all has a part to play,” Holland said. “That’s why we incorporated it into the Art Directors Guild. Because it’s visual — everything you see is visual.”

The LED wall can be reserved for Dodge films, and students also have the option to get acclimated with the new technology through the introduction to virtual production elective at Chapman.

“You don’t have to be a software engineer, but that's honestly helped me a lot, because despite how much you plan, things will go wrong on set,” Wang said.

Wang’s film, “Ceratosaurus,” is expected to premiere in the Folino theatre May 2022. 

“I think that by students starting out early, you get exposure to the same things that professionals are working with,” Wang said. “So you go into the industry and you can talk to these people about the same thing.”