If you've been paying close attention to the film industry over the past couple of years, you might be aware of a new technology sweeping across studios and production sets like a fever.

Called in-camera visual effects (ICVFX), the technology – in the simplest of terms – allows filmmakers to substitute the use of green screens and hours of post production-stage editing to produce realistic environments, visual effects, and scenery in the end product.

Not fully grasping the concept? Here's a little more to help you out: In typical filmmaking processes, whenever there's a requirement for backgrounds or scenes that can't be captured live on camera, actors are usually placed in front of green screens during filming.

After filming, the green backgrounds are replaced with realistic imagery taken from other sources and edited to make everything look realistic and as seamless as possible.

If you're still confused, the clip below should clear things up for you.

All told, however, the use of green screens can bit a little bit tedious to work on – with countless of hours and plenty of manpower needed to achieve the level of visual effects good enough to make it onto the big screen.

But recently, these green screens and hours of computer work have started taking a back seat, with more directors choosing ICVFX to achieve the desired visual outcomes.

Essentially, ICVFX incorporates the use of LED screens and xR Stages, which are placed in the background of a set and then used to display imagery and visuals generated by graphics engines like Epic Games' Unreal Engine 5 – which have now evolved to the point where they're able to create incredibly realistic footage and scenes.

Actors and other film props are then placed in front of these screens, scenes are then acted out, and everything that's needed in terms of special effects and lighting are hugely provided by the footage shown on the screens in the background.

In the end, the amount of editing and post-production work is dramatically reduced when compared to working with green screens.

Well, yes, obviously. And as it turns out, this method of filmmaking has become pretty popular with studios in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, where many traditional productions have been halted or even cancelled due to budget and logistical constraints.

In the ASEAN region, these virtual real-time production technologies have become quite popular as well, with studios such as AUX Media in Singapore, 3Particle in Malaysia, and V2 in Indonesia taking the lead in using LED screens and xR Stages for films and live events.

Just take a look at some of the work that's been done using such methods...

AUX Media's use of an xR Stage accompanied by a green screen allowed them to create live interactive visuals for the Mediacorp Star Awards Ceremony 2022, which had real celebrities and personalities interact with each other in a pretty slick virtual environment.

Over in Malaysia, xR studio 3Particle has managed to create some pretty amazing-looking visuals for music videos and live virtual performances. Just check out this live set they worked on for Alan Walker that was performed inside an xR stage.

Beyond being visually spectacular, the reason technologies such as ICVFX, xR Stages, and LED screens are growing increasingly important is due to the fact that they allow even smaller production houses to achieve a level of optical fit and finish that has until recently only been available to studios with larger budgets.

As such, Epic Games – the developers of Unreal Engine – has seen fit to support more than 1,600 creators and teams across 89 countries through its Epic MegaGrants (EMG) Program –a US$100 million fund designed to actively foster success in the industry.

There are currently 47 studios in Asia that have already taken advantage of this grant, including Streamline Media Group, AeonSparx Interactive, and Ammobox Studios from Malaysia, and it's likely that there will be many more in the years to come.

"Virtual production is absolutely the future for the media and entertainment sector – whether that is for film and television production, advertisements, broadcast, or live events," said Dean Reinhard, Evangelist and Technical Account Manager of Epic Games Southeast Asia.

"It is rapidly shaping the way we create, and the speed and scale at which creators can bring their ideas to life."

In the end, this is actually pretty exciting stuff not only for filmmakers, but for us spectators as well. Considering that the entry point for technologies such as ICVFX and xR Stages have been known to be quite accessible and manageable for even smaller studios, there's a pretty good chance that we'll finally see the level of quality from more niche filmmakers and smaller producers catch up to that of studios with bigger budgets.

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Cover image sourced from NEP and Rocketfuel Network.