Imagine having the shots before you took them. Imagine planning a production in a live storyboard instead of on paper. Imagine exporting a soap opera’s EDL before the cameraman actually pressed a button.

VRT Medialab and IBBT have jointly developed a virtual modeling system to help drama producers plan and visualise their productions before and during the shooting. The system, called 'Scoop', allows to set up and animate a virtual scene and to dry-run the capturing and the video-editing. It allows producers to explore creative opportunities and thus to increase the quality of the finished product.

Shown at IBC 2008, the system looks a bit like a special version of The Sims computer game. Virtual actors perform their walks and talks in a virtual set. The actors’ text is automatically read-out and timed to the moves they make. With two finger tips the director (or any other crew member) can move objects, create new walking paths, change the camera angles, etc.

Robbie de Sutter demoing Scoop.

Assistence from studio-floor to editing

The idea is this kind of system allows for a much more detailed view of what a director is aiming at, especially when making last second changes. With a multi-touch screen available on the production floor, cameramen can easily be explained which framings are required. New takes can be viewed in context, by exporting them as an EDL into an editing system. The result is a preview of the production as seen by the viewer with virtual characters instead of real-world actors. As soon as the real shots are made, they can automatically replace the virtual ones.

Testing with 'Thuis'

The inventors assume that each additional effort spent during pre-production is easily paid back by avoiding trial-and-error during production. A test with the popular Belgium soap series ‘Thuis’ (‘At Home’) later this year should validate the interest already received from production people.

For more information on Scoop, please contact at the VRT: Robbie de Sutter or Maarten Verwaest.