Regina Soundstage searches for crew as virtual studio nears completion

The John Hopkins Regina Soundstage is set to receive some state of the art technology, as components for its new virtual studio have now arrived.

Hundreds of LED panels will be snapped together to create a virtual studio.

“There’s hundreds and hundreds of these. They’re LED panels and they make up the wall that gets utilized as part of the background for virtual production,” Stephen Hall, a Regina film director, told CTV News.

The panels will create a wraparound wall 28 feet tall. It will fill half of the massive Regina studio.

“So when the camera moves, the background can move in 3D so it mimics something called parallax,” Hall explained.

It will allow filmmakers to project different locations onto the screen, eliminating the need for actors and large crews to travel.

“So we have locations in Brazil, we have Paris, we have London, Montreal so a lot of that stuff does get scanned via photogrammetry so we actually go out there, we scan it and then we start stitching it together,” Dante Yore of Volume Global explained.

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There are a few virtual studios around the world but this will be the most advanced.

There is no experienced crew in the country so candidates are applying from related fields, such as Nathan Blue, a 3D digital animator from Saskatoon.

“Actually I don’t have a film background but I do have a 3D animation background so my interest in the LED wall is the use of Unreal Engine,” Blue said.

Those hired also include computer hobbyists, like Sebastian Sawka.

“This is all my hobby, after work on my own. I’m trying to learn more. I’m trying to get the job here,” he told CTV News.

There are other film production studios in Canada but Regina’s will be the only virtual LED set in the country.

The installation will be permanent as Saskatchewan works to develop its own niche in the film industry.