Fremont, CA, USA – Thursday, February 2, 2023 – Blackmagic Design today announced that Disney’s “Pinocchio,” the live action version of the animated classic film, used Ultimatte 12 real time compositing processors and HyperDeck Studio 4K Pro broadcast decks as part of the production’s massive virtual production workflow.
Starring Tom Hanks as Geppetto, the live action and CGI retelling of the epic journey of a wooden puppet who becomes a real boy, “Pinocchio” used one of the largest virtual production workflows for any feature film and included several massive sets at Cardington Stage in London.
Director, Virtual Production and SVP Dimension North America, Jim Geduldick was the virtual production supervisor for “Pinocchio.” He and his team were responsible for integrating Simulcam, the live compositing of virtual objects with live action, with Unreal Engine’s real time 3D CGI creations, allowing any member of the crew, as well as the actors, to be able to control or react to virtual objects in real time. While using Simulcam and Unreal Engine for virtual production had been done in the past, Geduldick was faced with doing this on a scale that had never been attempted.
“No one had ever tried to do this across multiple sets for three months straight. There was so much happening each day, and we had to make sure we could get a cart wherever and whenever they were needed,” Geduldick said. “We could not have done that without Ultimatte and HyperDeck.”
Each cart included multiple Ultimatte 12s, Ultimatte Smart Remote 4 and HyperDeck Studio 4K Pros. At first Geduldick used two Ultimatte 12s per Simulcam feed, but with software improvements to Ultimatte 12 from Blackmagic Design, by the end of production he was able to use a single Ultimatte 12 per Simulcam setup.
He continued: “You can’t beat Ultimatte’s hardware based real time keying. Offloading to hardware saves so much data use that is needed elsewhere on set.” HyperDeck Studio 4K Pros were used to create custom playlists along with basic playback and recording. This helped create a workflow where virtual elements and specific lighting setups could be played back through Unreal Engine.
“The Simulcam and Ultimatte workflow was amazing. The DP, VFX supervisor and camera operators would know where they were landing because they could see it using Ultimatte. Lighting and atmospheric decisions could be done right on set. Virtual production only works if you can react and make creative decisions in real time, and that is what the Blackmagic Design products allowed,” Geduldick finished.
About Blackmagic Design
Blackmagic Design creates the world’s highest quality video editing products, digital film cameras, color correctors, video converters, video monitoring, routers, live production switchers, disk recorders, waveform monitors and real time film scanners for the feature film, post production and television broadcast industries. Blackmagic Design’s DeckLink capture cards launched a revolution in quality and affordability in post production, while the company’s Emmy™ award winning DaVinci color correction products have dominated the television and film industry since 1984. Blackmagic Design continues ground breaking innovations including 6G-SDI and 12G-SDI products and stereoscopic 3D and Ultra HD workflows. Founded by world leading post production editors and engineers, Blackmagic Design has offices in the USA, UK, Japan, Singapore and Australia. For more information, please go to www.blackmagicdesign.com.