Sony’s VFX firm Pixomondo is set to open a new LED volume stage in Langley, British Columbia, outside of Vancouver.
The virtual production facility for in-camera visual effects, to open May 26, will be launched and run by PXO Clara, the Game of Thrones VFX house’s LED volume division. The new Vancouver virtual stage will measure 50 feet in diameter, 23 feet tall, and will have a 14 foot deep semi-circle to surround actors and physical sets with a digital environment.
There’s also two movable wild walls 20 feet wide and 16.5 feet tall and mounted on a ground-hover system to allow quick repositioning, especially for capturing car driving scenes. PXO, a division of Sony Pictures Entertainment, already has separate LED volume stages operating in Vancouver and Toronto.
Virtual production broadly refers to visual effects work done in real time on set. The new Langley stage aims to offer producers new options for virtual film sets from PXO, the Los Angeles-based visual effects house.
“With PXO LED Volumes currently operating in the U.S., Canada, Australia and beyond, we’re scaling our virtual production footprint around the world, empowering filmmakers to bring bold ideas to screen faster, smarter, and with fewer creative compromises,” Christopher Cox, head of PXO Clara, said in a statement.
The new Langley stage also has an LED ceiling mounted on an overhead gantry system for quick changeovers in lighting. And the stage includes the VFX house’s new PXO AKIRA system that combines a robotic camera crane with an independent suspension platform to film and fuse vehicles in real-time.
Jonny Slow, CEO of PXO, added the Langley stage offers flexibility and realism in virtual production environments. “It is an awesome showcase for what is possible to achieve by combining the best of Sony Electronics with PXO, and the fact that we have been able to build it in British Columbia is testament to the quality of crews and locations,” Slow said in his own statement.
VFX credits at PXO include Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, Amazon’s The Boys and Lionsgate’s John Wick: Chapter 4.