What is ‘The Mandalorian’?
Currently in its third season, ‘The Mandalorian’, first released in 2019, has lead the innovation of virtual production in both Television and Film. The series immerses itself into the Star Wars universe, where we follow a lone bounty hunter running away from imperial forces across the galaxy. The well-established Sci-fi universe meant that the production thrusts itself into producing a magnificent array of visual effects to bring this fictional world to life.
With a great demand for outstanding visual effects, came the introduction of a revolutionary innovation that has altered the way TV and Film in the genre of sci-fi and fantasy is filmed. Ditching the green screen and introducing virtual production of ‘StageCraft.’
What is StageCraft?
Created by a pioneering company known for their ground-breaking creations in visual effects, ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) partnered with Epic Games (Creator of ‘Unreal Engine) developing a virtual production set made up of LED walls that are programmed to show a photorealistic 3D world. The screen walls are known by the cast and crew as ‘The Volume’, which is 20 feet tall, 75 feet in diameter and covers 270 degrees of the set, illuminating an immersive set for all the cast and crew.
For shows like ‘The Mandalorian’, fans expect to be transported to an alternative world, or galaxy, which creates a complex task for the filmmakers on each of the projects. Green screens are used so that during post production, they can later add the special effects or CGI. This meant that during production, the actors and crew have to use their imaginations and guess what the visuals will end up looking like. Consequently, film productions use multiple lighting techniques around the set in order to irradiate the green screen glare and create realistic lighting that would match the final image on the screen.
By using the LED video walls, it irradiates the need for additional lighting techniques and the excessive post-production process, as it already delivers the lighting and imagery needed to bring the worlds to life. Additionally, everyone involved in the production is more immersed and inspired whilst creating the project, making sure everyone is on the same page while filming
How is it sustainable?
In the last couple decades, industry policies regarding cinema have made suggestions on how to become ‘greener’ and more sustainable. The aim? To reduce the industry’s overall negative environmental impact. The ‘SPA’ (Sustainable Production Alliance) is a combination of the worlds leading film, television and streaming companies, supporting the objective of advancing sustainable initiatives. The Green Production Guide, prepared by the ‘SPA’, is an online toolkit designed to reduce industry carbon footprints by evaluating ways in which productions can be more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. One thing the guide, and other sustainable missions analyse, is the switch to LED technology, as it converts a higher percentage of energy into light, producing less heat, and in return less carbon emissions.
StageCraft aligns itself with sustainable industry governance, as ‘The Volume’ uses LED’s for its video wall, using 70% less energy then incandescent lights, further cutting its carbon emissions. Not only that, but it can bring locations to the comfort of ‘The Volume’! The production avoids having to travel sets, props and crews to distant locations, lessening fuel and time waisted.
Marissa Gomes (ILM visual effects producer): “You can switch from the Iceland to the desert locations all within the same day of shooting”
This groundbreaking technology has forced productions into a more efficient workflow, that draws pre and post production into one space. With crews covering 30-50% more pages a day, not only is virtual production sustainable environmentally, but it also saves time and money.
The Star Wars franchise has been used to explore film and TV’s environmental impact, due to its high production value. With the research conducted by ‘The EIF Project’, Star Wars, including ‘The Mandalorian’, continues to affiliate with improving sustainability goals.
StageCraft going global
Some other productions that have used StageCraft included ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ (2022), ‘Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania’ (2023), and most recently ‘Percy Jackson and the Olympians’ (2024). Permanent volumes have been built in Los Angeles, London, and Sydney, whilst ILM have alluded to their ability to provide “pop up” sets, which allows multiple productions to reuse and access the video wall soundstage. Large productions can invest in StageCraft, which can eliminate other production elements that take up a lot of time and money, adding to the positive long-term efficiency, rather than having to create large sets from scratch and wasting materials.
The Future
Overall, the system looks more realistic then a green screen, and allows for quicker setups in a controlled environment. There is one drawback of this new technology, which is limited camera movement. This is for moving shots where someone could be running away for a long amount of time. But just as there were drawbacks of green screen, companies light ‘ILM’ continue to create and improve, whilst also having a sustainable practice in mind. The innovation initiated for “The Mandalorian” is beginning to revolutionise the film industry and push for standards towards sustainability.
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