A new virtual production facility based in Ruislip in West London officially opens its doors today.
MARS has been designed and built by media technologists, Bild Studios. As well as a production facility, it will also act as a centre of excellence for research and development into virtual production technologies and workflows.
The new facility combines video game engines, camera-tracking technology, graphics-servers and LED screens to create an immersive performance stage. It can be used for both film and high-end TV productions.
MARS houses the option to create a 270-degree in-camera LED screen up to 38.5m x 5.5m, a 176 m2 out-of-camera ceiling LED screen and an 8,000 sqf/ 1,400 m2 facility.
Speaking about the new facility, MARS and Bild co-founder David Bajt said: “At Bild we have nearly two decades of experience working with tracking technologies, real-time content pipelines and the latest display technologies and our team has been instrumental in exploring and developing VP techniques already since 2016. The opening of MARS represents the next logical step forward for creative leaders in film, high-end episodic TV, gaming, advertising, music, fashion and other creative industries.”
“With today’s filmmakers and content producers under increasing pressure to increase the content yield they receive from film shoots, the technology on MARS promotes environmentally sustainable filmmaking that is future proofed in service to carbon-neutral objectives,” added MARS and Bild co-founder Rowan Pitts. “As filming in remote locations becomes increasingly expensive and inflexible, visual content can be produced on MARS without the need to travel to exotic locations and our work can be carried out while maintaining the social distancing practices that have become so important over the last 12 months.”
