ProVideo Coalition wrote on March 2023, that the state-of-the-art Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center would open in 2024, at the same place chosen for the 2023 edition of Cine Gear Expo, the Industrial City. The space is now open, offering hands-on training in the latest production techniques and further establishing NYU Tisch as a global leader in cinematic arts training by pioneering new technology and expanding training and collaborative opportunities in the performing arts and design.
As ProVideo Coalition noted then, the center was made possible by a major gift announced in 2021 from the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, led by Mellody Hobson, co-CEO of Ariel Investments, and filmmaker George Lucas. In addition, the donation funds the Martin Scorsese Institute of Global Cinematic Arts, which includes the Virtual Production Center, the Martin Scorsese Department of Cinema Studies, and support for student scholarships. The gift is the largest in the history of the Tisch School of the Arts.
“We are thrilled to be able to honor our dear friend Martin Scorsese. Through this gift in his name, the Scorsese Institute of Global Cinematic Arts deservedly highlights his legacy as a quintessential American filmmaker and will inspire generations of diverse, talented students. Through time-honored scholarship and hands-on instruction on the state-of-the-art digital technology at the Institute, artistic vision will come to life where storytelling meets innovation,” said Mellody Hobson and George Lucas.
The Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center will help to put world-leading Virtual Production on the map on the East Coast, as the fully functional Virtual Production stage will serve as a training platform for post-graduate NYU students and a cutting-edge commercial Virtual Production studio for the film and advertising industry.
Rosanne C. Limoncelli, Senior Director of filmmaking Technologies at NYU Tisch, the internal driving force for the project, explains, “The reason I really wanted to do this program is that I kept hearing from designers, directors, and cinematographers that there are not enough people with experience in Virtual Production that we can hire. We aim to help bridge that gap and introduce new talent into the industry.”
The school offers a new 36-credit Master of Professional Studies degree in Virtual Production with a cutting-edge curriculum for filmmakers to learn how to use Virtual Production as a toolset in their storytelling process. The 45,586 square-foot facility lives on the top floor of Building 8 at Industry City, a 35-acre innovation campus on the Brooklyn waterfront. The Center features two double-height, column-free stages, two television studios, industry-standard broadcast and control rooms, dressing/make-up rooms, a lounge and bistro, scene workshops, offices, postproduction labs, finishing suites, and training spaces.
As the lead systems integrator, AbelCine led the entire facility’s production and broadcast systems build and worked with partner Lux Machina on the virtual production integration. AbelCine also outfitted the facility with ARRI ALEXA 35 cameras, ZEISS Supreme Prime lenses, and an integrated lighting grid featuring ARRI SkyPanels for the virtual production stage.
“At AbelCine, we pride ourselves on supporting the next generation of creatives, which is why we’re so excited to have NYU Tisch located within the vibrant Industry City campus,” says Pete Abel, CEO & Co-Founder of AbelCine.
“Not only will NYU students now have a leading-edge production facility in which to learn, but they will do so alongside the more than 90 media companies on the IC campus. This will spark immeasurable collaborative and creative opportunities for the students. We’re grateful to be involved in this project from the outset and to witness firsthand the kernel of an idea blossoming into the amazing and unique educational facility that has been unveiled.”
The Virtual Production Stage is a 180° LED volume measuring 26′ deep x 41′ wide x 17′ high on a 3,500-square-foot soundstage with innovative mobile workstations. As part of the high-end technical specification, ROE Visual Black Pearl 2V2 panels were selected utilizing the Megapixel Helios LED processing platform. Lux Machina’s custom-developed ARCA media servers power the stage. They are optimized for Virtual Production and can switch between multiple content rendering platforms, including pre-installed Pixera licenses. The NYU Center has also been outfitted with Vicon’s Shōgun entertainment market software and 40 Vicon cameras: the combination of the two provides a state-of-the-art motion capture system for virtual production.
Lux Machina has long been considered one of the leading innovators and proponents of Virtual Production. Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Operations and Finance at Lux Machina, Zach Alexander comments on the recent expansion of business into the educational environment, “In terms of the ‘why now?’ and ‘why universities?’, I would expand on Rosanne’s statement and note that while many of these aspects of Virtual Production have been around for quite some time, they’re developing extremely quickly and we’re at the point where we have outpaced the available resources on a very practical level. We need to educate the next round of professionals in the industry-standard technologies and workflows that are used daily on film, television, and live productions worldwide.”
Britainne Pedersen, Senior Producer, elaborates on the approach, “The importance of education in Virtual Production is that we allow students to access a body of knowledge and a skill set that Lux Machina has been developing over the last 12 years. Students don’t have to start at zero. They can join us where we are now, we can level up the industry, and build the next version of this technology together.”
NYU Alumnus Sang-Jin Bae counts Rosanne C Limoncelli as a mentor and was thrilled to be approached and hired as the Director of the Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center. Sang has taught for 26 years and worked commercially on long-form TV series and episodic animation. Speaking on the relationships formed with this project, Sang states, “During the research process, we discovered industry leaders AbelCine and Lux Machina. AbelCine was one of the first companies to bring production to Industry City, and Lux Machina has been a leading innovator in Virtual Production for over a decade. We are excited to capitalize on the experience that both groups bring to the table, and we are excited to bring this technology to the next generation of filmmakers… even though it’s called Virtual Production, it is eventually going to just be called Production.”
Rosanne C. Limoncelli comments on her vision for the facility’s future: “We’re looking to partner and collaborate to put world-leading Virtual Production on the map on the East Coast, establishing a strong community where our beautiful visual artist graduates and the wider commercial industry can mutually benefit.”
The facility officially opened with an initial class of 24 students from all over the world. To learn more about the program go to www.tisch.nyu.edu.