On February 2nd, Tech TV published an article on the increasing number of Virtual Production degree programs that are sparking collaboration across disciplines that traditionally worked separately. The Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center was highlighted:
"NYU’s Scorsese Center, now midway through its second year, occupies 45,586 square feet in a building on the university’s 35-acre Innovation Campus along the Brooklyn waterfront. The facility supports two 3,500 square-foot double-height stages, two 1,800 square-foot television studios, state-of-the-art broadcast and control rooms, dressing and makeup rooms, a lounge and bistro, scene workshops, offices, postproduction labs, finishing suites and training spaces.
'We’re really proud of our facilities,' said Sang-Jin Bae, Tisch arts professor and Scorsese Center director. 'A major benefit of what we’re teaching is we’re focused on providing an environment where you can learn the hard skills you need.'
This goes to the quality of the instruction as well as the equipment, he added. For example, the use of the all-important Unreal Engine software stack is taught by three Scorsese staff members who are Epic Unreal Authorized Trainers.
Among the many emergent VP innovations working with Unreal Engine’s real-time execution of 3D environments at the center, Bae lists VICON’s motion-capture system used in camera tracking; AV Stumpfl’s PIXERA media server, supporting 2D playback on the LED volumes; MegaPixel VR processors orchestrating displays on ROE Visual’s BlackPearl2 LED panels; and the ARRI Alexa35 Camera and Zeiss lenses that serve to mitigate the moiré effect resulting from mismatches between camera sensors and LED display patterns.
Of course, learning the technical dimensions is just part of the VP education process. In fact, a recurrent theme arising in discussions with educators like Bae is the extent to which the technical skills they teach are subservient to the goal of achieving creative success. 'We’re coming from the end user storytelling side,' he said."