What are your thoughts on utilizing green screens for commercial usage?
Using a green screen allows for a lot of creative freedom and cost savings since we don’t have to shoot on location and the entire crew and cast may be in one place. There’s a lot of leeway and cost-saving with regard to transportation and getting around. You don’t need to set up the actual objects, either, so you can make effective use of sophisticated technology to create virtual sets, platforms, and props.
Green screen may be utilized in a variety of inventive ways for corporate videos. What are some of your favorite techniques to employ it?
For companies, we hold a lot of webinars. Webinar is one of the most popular applications in a green screen setting. Of course, in the film industry, you see many green screen films. Using virtual sets made using green screens for webinars, conferences, and townhalls provides a lot of production value while also allowing all of the skills to shine. All of the productions are really compelling and engaging, which helps to attract and keep the attention of the viewers.
Have you ever dealt with a firm that used green screen and been impressed with the results?
Yes, in fact, the majority of my customers who have actually utilized our green screen services have praised them. Because we are one of the few companies that utilize Unreal Engine as a rendering platform and provide 3D depth to the entire production. The speakers or presenter did not appear to be cut and pasted into an image but rather felt very real since they appeared to be standing or living inside the virtual world.
What do you consider to be the most crucial aspect to consider when arranging a green screen shot?
The material is extremely vital. You must first plan the information, such as what additional facts you wish to display and how you want to show them. We spoke about what and how to present the content, for example, if you want your launched product or object to be animated and appear in a virtual set. Basically, it’s all about creating an attractive virtual set that complements and supports the brand/branding so that the overall appearance and feel are pleasant to viewers.
Do you have any advice for producing the most of green screen footage post-production?
Color grading is crucial. The next step after the whole project is completed is to apply a little bit of polish to the entire thing. In post-production, we usually do some color grading to give the whole video a polished look and feel.
What made you want to start utilizing green screen in your business?
A lot of real-world events have been halted as a result of COVID’s efforts. To continue the company forward, we built our green screen studio in order to produce 3D virtual set pieces for all of our films. But the studio truly took off when we started employing 3D virtual set productions in all of our projects. With the 3D production sets, many clients are drawn to us since they have depth and a three-dimensional perspective. They may really imagine themselves presenting the information in an immersive setting. Many of our clients wanted to host town halls, seminars, and conferences at our facility. COVID is a game-changer, but it’s the 3D virtual set productions that provide real inspiration.
How have green screens helped you attract new audiences and expand your business?
Green screen alone is simply a tool, but the ability to utilize green screen to create 3D Unreal Engine productions has allowed me to identify or interact with high-value clients who not only convey the message but also do so in a world-class production environment. They’re all weary of Zoom gallery view or a newsroom format with just pictures in picture, and they want something more immersive. The green screen 3D production really allows us to produce something that’s more immersive and utilize augmented reality and animated objects. We can even go metahuman to allow us to genuinely present material in a very creative way utilizing hybrid technology.
Do you have any advice for companies wanting to start utilizing green screen?
Make sure you get the right equipment. A lot of individuals believe that simply putting a green cloth in the background and then keying out the individual is all there is to it. In reality, having a green screen/cloth/background is only half of the equation. To ensure that the quality is ideal, you’ll need enough and even lighting. You’ll need a big enough area so that you can shoot from several angles. Select someone with a solid track record, expertise, and the ability to provide world-class webinars.
How did you get started in the field of virtual studio 3D?
The motivation is driven by demand and supply. We were one of the first businesses to begin offering 3D animation in Singapore. Clients quickly discover the nature of our production, and a lot of them switch from conventional film productions to 3D. In addition, the demand has grown and production quality has improved. We relocated our green screen from our old office/studio to a much bigger green screen studio, which we now use. We currently have two 60 sq.m green screens in operation. These are the sorts of projects that we offer to our clients.
What are some of the difficulties you’ve had in starting and running your business?
Having technical expertise is one thing. But being able to advertise your services to the market is another matter entirely. We’ve done a lot of green screen videos, which have helped us gain a lot of experience and learn new skills. I can honestly say that we are good at these productions. We are actually one of Singapore’s top three in 3D film production. What we need to do now is be able to market our services. One approach to advertising our services is to network with a lot of event planners. We’ve built quite a few international collaboration partners by collaborating with them. The issue is how to get in touch with event companies.
What has been the most difficult aspect for you thus far?
I believe that marketing and outreach are the greatest difficulties right now. We’re only allowed to do business in Singapore during COVID. So, once borders are opened, the next challenge is how can we market our services outside of Singapore.
Do you believe that this business will last in the long run?
Yes, we’re just touching the surface of what we’ve learned with 3D virtual films. With Unreal Engine, we’ll be moving into short-form film production, which will be our next step. We want to become a source for other film production companies as well, not just webinars and conferences. We may one day be able to offer our services as an Unreal Engine Studio, which implies we will provide a virtual gaffer and camera tracking system studio, allowing the film production company to focus on storytelling rather than technical matters. We’ll just handle technical assistance for Unreal Engine.
What kind of results have you gotten from utilizing a 3D virtual production package in your marketing videos?
Based on the information I’ve seen so far; people are more drawn to a high-production-quality video that can only be created with 3D virtual productions. Traditionally, 3D films have been produced after they’re completed, which means that actors or talent are filmed in front of a green screen. After then, they really key out the subject in the background at post-productions. In a 3D virtual production/or live production, however, the results are recorded in real-time, which means that we actually key out the individual live and place them into the 3D virtual world. The entire process is carried out in real-time. All of these films were shot live. We simply call cut and wrap up once we’ve decided to end it, and the video is already available for us to work with. All we have to do now is polish it up by color grading. The end result is that a lot of clients felt the experience was more immersive. They can observe the results for themselves. Actors or presenters may interact with virtual items in this scenario. He’s immediately able to view himself in the virtual world thanks to the confidence monitor, which shows where he’s standing and where virtual things are located so that he can virtually reach out his hands and touch them. The conclusion boils down to a high immersive production that may generate a highly realistic environment while also shortening the entire production cycle.
What are the monthly fees for renting your studio?
We offer dry rental, which means you only pay for the space and our services. As a result, the average cost is between $1,500 and $15,000. The range is extremely large. It is determined by the demands of the customer.
What kind of technology do you use in your studio?
We have Unreal Engine workstations that produce the 3D rendering. We have Visual Projection Software that renders the video and publishes/pushes it in Unreal Engine. We have six cameras so that we can provide different angles, including close-ups and wide shots. We have three checking cameras that feed data to the Unreal Engine so that when we pan or zoom in, the background will follow and move accordingly. We use seasoned sound mixers to guarantee high-quality audio. To ensure that the whole studio is lit equally and favorably, we are using studio-grade lighting.
How long can I reserve the studio for? Is there a specific number of hours that I must book the space for?
The minimum booking time is 1 day.
What can you do to ensure your live stream goes off without a hitch? What is the most crucial aspect to consider?
The internet connection is the weakest link technologically, therefore what we do to overcome this is having our own studio. We actually have two different internet networks and providers: Starhub and Singtel. Our firewall also has an emergency failover option that allows it to switch over to the secondary internet service provider (Starhub) in case of a problem with the primary internet service provider (Singtel) within three seconds. This is in our studio. To ensure that our online streaming to the cloud runs smoothly, we invested in firewalls and two ISPs. Now that we do projects outside the studio, we’ve invested in costly industrial modems like Cradlepoint, which has already implemented load balancing. We have four M2M sim cards inside this Cradlepoint. We’re not utilizing consumer sim cards; instead, we’re using industrial M2M sim cards. The stability and redundancy that comes with ATM-style sim cards will help us deliver our stream to the cloud without interruption.
What do you anticipate will be the primary trends in live streaming services over the next several years?
After COVID, live streaming will become the norm. COVID pushed the world to adapt live streaming in events and townhalls. Live streaming is still being used by clients even after we have borders opening and physical events returning to the picture. They realized that whether they spent too much money on a physical event or simply aired it to the planet, there was no difference. We began to notice a desire for live streaming. The quality of live streaming will continue to improve in the future, as well as other technologies such as augmented reality, teleportation, virtual reality, and metahuman. In the future of live streaming, all of these will be more prevalent.
What is your most popular event?
Internal so-called dissemination of information events are the most common. I’ll put it another way: 70% of my outputs are townhalls.
Do you have any special events in Singapore?
No.
Do you have any plans to reach mainland China?
I don’t have any national expansion in mind at the moment, but we will need to develop our services outside of Singapore as demand for 3D productions grows but the skillsets currently available on the market are unable to fulfill it. As a result, we’ll need more manpower or human resources to meet the demands of this industry. I feel that there will be a lot of demand for this in this area.