How volumetric video brings a new dimension to filmmaking Diego Prilusky
I love making movies.
Motion pictures have been in existence
for more than a hundred years.
Filmmaking hasn’t changed
for the dimensional mindset.
Placing the camera in a scene
and pressing “record” hasn’t changed.
Filmmaking is still a frontal experience,
and creating the film has the possibility
to follow the same direction
of the content creation.
We still stand in front of a flat image,
watching the fiction.
There’s nothing wrong with it.
I love watching movies
and going to the theaters.
The experiences can be
such emotional experiences.
The art and craft of emotional
experiences within a frame
can be so strong
to drive a stronger emotion.
The question we’re asking is,
How the experience of motion pictures
can exist beyond the flat screen.
How can we start creating content
for the next generation
of content experiences?
Traditionally, when we imagine a scene,
we look at the frame and the composition.
We have to think about how we create
depth and parallax
using foreground, background elements
as the camera moves.
With the technology today
and devices of VR glasses,
AR glasses, smart devices,
allowing three-dimensional
and full navigation in space,
we have the possibility
to enable audiences
to experience content
from multiple perspectives.
What we have to think about
is how we take this technology,
all the capabilities,
and enable the experience
to move farther away inside the scene.
Now we’re not talking about video games
or computer-generated actors,
which look tremendously realistic.
We’re talking about real actors
and real performance,
performing onstage.
We have to start thinking
how we capture the actors
and how we capture the real scene
in order to immerse inside.
Now, we’re familiar
with the 360-degree video,
where you place a camera inside the scene
and you can create this beautiful
panoramic image all around you,
but from the same aspect,
filmmaking is still frontal.
In order to emerge fully inside the scene,
we will need to capture the light
from all the possible directions.
We will have to surround the scene
with an enormous amount of sensors,
with all possible capabilities
to capture the light
and enable us to emerge
inside afterwards again.
Now, in this setup,
there’s no more foreground or background
or a camera placed in space
but hundreds of sensors
capturing the light
and capturing the motion
from all the possible directions.
With the new technological advancements,
we can start looking at 3D photography,
capturing the light
from multiple perspectives,
enabling us to reconstruct the object.
This is like photography in 3D space.
Now, with these
technological advancements,
we can record video
not just as a flat image
but as a volume.
This is what we call “volumetric video,”
and it has the capability
to record every action of the scene
as a full three-dimensional volume.
Now, what is a voxel?
A voxel is like a three-dimensional pixel,
but instead of being a flat image square,
staying light and colored,
it’s like a three-dimensional
cube in space,
with x, y, and z positions.
This enables us to create
a full capture of the scene
from any perspective.
Now this renders
a fully light-immersive scene
from multiple perspectives.
This capability requires an insane amount
of information to be processed.
We will have to capture the light
from an enormous amount of cameras
to create this information.
Now, in order to do such a thing,
we would need a setup that would host
a numerous amount of cameras
installed in a stage
and a stage big enough in order to fit
a full cinematic experience.
Now that sounds like a crazy idea,
but that’s exactly what we did.
For the last three years,
we have been building
a huge volumetric camera chamber.
It’s 10,000 square feet of a stage,
enabling to capture the action
from any location.
We have deployed hundreds of cameras,
sending a tremendous amount of information
to a huge data center
powered by Intel supercomputers.
The ability to have this 10,000 feet
enables us to fit any kind of action,
any kind of performance.
It is the size of an average
Broadway stage.
We call it Intel Studios,
and it’s the largest volumetric
stage in the world,
with the objective
of enabling and exploring
the next generation
of this immersive media filmmaking.
Now, to test these ideas,
we were thinking about what we can do
as the first scene to try it out.
So we chose the Western scene.
We brought horses, set designers, dirt,
everything needed to create
the full scene of a Western.
But this time, there was no camera inside.
There was nothing really moving
besides all the cameras
installed outside.
The challenge
of the actors was tremendous.
They have to perform a flawless action
visible from all the directions.
There’s no possibility to hide a punch
or not show the action.
Everything is captured
and everything is seen.
The output of the capture –
this is our future capture –
opened our eyes for
the immense capabilities.
It was like a full 3D scan
of the entire scene.
We were able to move around
and travel in the space.
The thing about this,
it’s not anymore about perceiving
the light emitted from a screen
but now traveling inside the light,
traveling inside the scene.
This obviously opens possibilities
for an enormous amount
of storytelling
and methodologies of creation.
This is the possibilities
of your personal narrative,
the possibility of creating
your own story inside,
or maybe following other stories.
Let’s take a look
at one of the last renders and see.
(Music)
What you’re seeing here
is full volumetric video,
and there’s no physical
camera in the scene.
(Music)
We have the full control
(Music, sounds of combat)
of space and time.
(Music, sounds of combat)
Now, again, no physical camera was here.
Everything was captured surrounding.
Now, this is very nice,
but what if we wanted to see the scene,
maybe, from the eyes of the horse?
Well, we can do that as well.
(Horse galloping)
So what you’re seeing right now
is the same action,
but this time, we’re watching
exactly from the eyes of the horse.
The possibilities are, well, unlimited.
(Applause)
Thank you.
(Applause)
So this is all great
for creators and storytellers.
It really opens a huge canvas
for a different type
of storytelling and moviemaking.
But what about the audience?
How can the audience
experience this differently?
In order to [create] our explorations,
we partnered with Paramount Pictures
in order to explore immersive media
in a Hollywood movie production.
Together with the director Randal Kleiser,
we reimagined the iconic movie of 1978,
“Grease.”
Some of you know it, some of you don’t.
A 40-year-old movie, amazing experience.
And our goal was really to look at how
we can take this iconic action and dance
and bring it deeper into the experience,
bring it deeper into the audience.
Imagine that you can
not just watch the movie
but get inside it
and dance with the actors
and dance with the performance.
Now we’re breaking, really,
the traditional 2D mindset of thinking,
and bringing a much richer
possibility of moviemaking
and content creation.
But why watch it on the screen?
Let’s try to bring these actors
here on the stage.
So they’re not going to really come –
I’m going to use an iPad.
(Laughter)
Sorry.
I’m going to use an iPad
in order to bring in augmented reality.
Now, obviously, these devices
have their own limitations
in terms of the data-computing process,
so we have to reduce
the amount of resolution.
So what I’m doing now,
I’m placing here a marker,
so I’ll be able to position exactly
where I want everyone to appear.
OK.
I think we have them here.
(Applause)
John Travolta, or –
(Laughter)
a version of him.
Let’s take a look.
(Video) Female: Hey.
Male: And that is how it’s done.
Female: Your turn.
Male: Hey, guys! Check this out.
(Song: “You’re the one that I want”)
Danny: Sandy!
Sandy: Tell me about it, stud.
(Singing) I got chills.
They’re multiplying
And I’m losing control
‘Cause the power you’re supplying
It’s electrifying!
(Video ends)
(Applause and cheers)
Diego Prilusky: Thank you.
(Applause and cheers)
So as you can see,
we can watch and experience content
in the traditional way
or in an immersive way.
Really, the possibilities are open.
We’re not trying to change
or replace movies.
We’re enhancing them.
The technologies enable new possibilities
to start thinking beyond the flat screen.
We’re in immersive and really
exciting times in filmmaking.
We’re at the threshold of a new era.
We’re opening the gates
for new possibilities
of immersive storytelling,
and exploration and defining
what immersive media filmmaking means.
We’re really just at the beginning,
and we invite you all to join us.
Thank you.
(Applause)