VIRTUAL PRODUCTION AND CINEMATIC MEANING AS A PROCESS OF REVERSAL IN FILMMAKING

Abstract

Virtual production denotes changes in production and presentation formats in the filmmaking process, driven by new technologies, while also characterizing the transformation of the conceptual level of cinematic meaning. Thanks to advancing computer technologies, the seamless integration of physical sets, actors, and stage equipment with computer-generated imagery and real-time rendering enables the film industry to create immersive and realistic scenes in an area previously constrained by physical limitations. The culture of speed brought about by these technologies accelerates the filmmaking process and redefines the cinematic space and time. Virtual production replaces the green screen with LED panels (video wall), allowing real-time adjustments, changes, and reproductions of the visual narrative needs of each scene through the simultaneous tracking of the actual camera by a virtual camera. Consequently, this technique, which encompasses various production methods in the filmmaking process, transforms traditional styles and offers new possibilities for the role of the camera in cinema. In a reversal process, previously confined to editing and post-production, adjustments are now included in the filmmaking process under the name of In-Camera Visual Effects. In these applications, as virtual assets are included in the shooting scene, creative processes accelerate, and cinematography becomes virtual and hybrid. This technical transformation in the filmmaking process also leads to a change in cinematic meaning. The situation serves as an indicator that the captured final image in motion, which includes virtual production, dies during the actual filming. The elimination of the distance between creating and recording scenes in traditional filmmaking also implies the once-again confiscation of cinema’s illusion-producing power. In the past, the filmmaking process that sparked the imagination has now given way to the nakedness of technical instruments and algorithmic software. This research focuses on the virtual camera, real-time image processing and 3D scenes, which are the fundamental components of virtual production, and examines the increasing use of the technique in the field of cinema through codes, while also examining the effects of the filmmaking process on cinematic meaning from critical perspective.