Picture being able to step into the backdrop of a crimson cosmic landscape on Mars or a bustling carriage of a New York subway in real-time, all through using Extended Reality (XR) and virtual production from studios in Yorkshire.
The team at live events and production campus Production Park hosted an exclusive tour of its innovative facilities in Wakefield alongside Leeds agency CreativeRace, offering a glimpse behind the studios and the emerging technology on offer to brands and creatives in the region.
The campus is home to multiple production studios including an arena-sized Studio 001, higher education provider called Backstage Academy and XPLOR, one of the world’s first research and development centre for entertainment technology and production.
We went to see the studios alongside a number of leading marketing leaders from the likes of Sky, Meatless Farm, Webmart UK, Space Studios, Powerhouse Photo, Ice Co and Creative Digital Industries to uncover how the production campus is seeking to pave the way forwards for creatives in the North.
An introduction to the park
Kicking off the event on the XR stage, CreativeRace’s CEO Rob Shaw took to the stage alongside Prolific North’s Editor David Prior and XPLOR’s Development Director, Jim Farmery.
Jim Farmery detailed how Production Park is a family-owned business in Yorkshire and said it became the “biggest centre in Europe creating entertainment technology solutions” when it launched in 2015.
He explained how Production Park’s arena-sized rehearsal space Studio 001 has recently been used by the world-famous entertainment group Cirque Du Soleil, with the company transforming the studio into a copy of the acts’ Montreal training base.
The XR stage at Production Park.
Rob Shaw, CEO at CreativeRace, also explained how Production Park’s XR and virtual production capabilities can offer ample opportunities for the creative sector by reducing the need to venture overseas to create content.
Whether that be for photography, films, social media or campaigns, the agency and Production Park are keen to showcase how these innovative facilities could transform the way the creative industry produces content.
The exclusive tour around Production Park
Alongside the XR and virtual production capabilities at Production Park, the campus is home to a community of live events businesses, rehearsal studios and the production of set designs, touring stage sets and large-scale sculptures.
The first stop of the tour centred around Production Park’s Studio 002. It is predominately positioned as the main teaching space used to support its on-site university, Backstage Academy, which launched in 2009.
The space is used as a day-to-day space to come up with concepts for future events, filming projects and Backstage Academy masterclasses.
After its founder Adrian Brooks spotted a skills gap in production, he launched the academy which offers courses from live events production to virtual production.
Production Park’s arena-sized studio 001.
As the world of live events and arena touring accelerated in the region with limited space for artists to rehearse, Brooks moved to open a new studio facility – the arena-sized studio 001 – which was opened by Coldplay in 2005 to support the live events industry.
Moving onto the 17,664 sq ft Studio 001 arena, it has been used by a variety of big names in the entertainment industry from the likes of Arctic Monkeys, AC/DC, Bring Me the Horizon, Little Mix and Lady Gaga.
It has also been used for the production of TV series, commercials and has played host to Sky Sports Boxing matches to the hustings of West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin.
Production Park video of Bring Me The Horizon using Studio 001.
Behind the scenes of Studio 001, it boasts a 14-bedroom hotel, a cinema, a space for on-site caterers, Rockpool cafe, all designed so “a client doesn’t need to leave”.
The Production Park team recounted recent stories of how the studio has been used, from Hugh Jackman using the cinema to approve a film director’s cut on the film Bad Education to how former Little Mix band member Jesy Nelson watched her BBC Three documentary on bullying live as it went on air.
Continuing the journey on the tour, we are shown where XPLOR’s new research and innovation centre on the Production Park campus will be situated, which is set to be unveiled in May 2022 with a cost of over £7m.
Its facilities and equipment will be designed to deliver a support programme for small businesses across West Yorkshire and beyond covering music, TV, film, sports, corporate events and the creative sector.
A key focus of XPLOR is its virtual production capabilities with XR as well as 3D printing, building innovative products, product and design conception, and aiming to make equipment lighter for rock and roll tours with sustainability at its core.
Tour around the Production Park campus with marketing leaders.
Showcase of XPLOR’s virtual production innovations and how it works
Following the tour, attendees gathered back at XPLOR’s XR stage to hear a presentation from Christopher Considine, XPLOR’s XR Studio Manager, who showcased the capabilities of XR and virtual production.
While many smaller businesses and creative companies may not have had the opportunity to tap into virtual production technology before due to the expense or availability, XPLOR and Production Park want to change this.
With the help of students at Backstage Academy, Christopher showcased how virtual technology has evolved from the days of traditional green screens towards LED technology with panels, where you can step into the scene of a realistic 3D background such as a cafe setting.
The “beauty of virtual production” with LED is how it limits the amount of time spent on post-production in comparison with traditional green screens, he explained.
It is the same technology used by Star-Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian, where you can place an individual in real-time into any world with the use of rendered stock or pre-recorded content footage.
A key part of Production Park, he said, is the students coming through. It is one of the only institutions with XR set-up for training designed to equip the next generation of talent with the skills to use the technology.
With dynamic lighting, a scene can be made to look warmer or brighter which can transform it completely from a glacial landscape of mountains to the crimson surface of Mars. The camera can be panned around to move around each scene, if you were in a carriage of a bustling New York subway train you can move from one carriage to the next.
He explained how the technology is designed to reduce the time creatives and brands spend on lengthy and expensive location shoots, as it can all be created in a controlled environment.
CreativeRace insight on how the technology is used for campaigns and social
Tim Donald, Executive Creative Director at CreativeRace, said the “logistics and the cost of shooting all that for real would be absolutely ridiculous – trying to do several locations all around the globe would just be a phenomenal expense”.
Detailing how the Coronavirus pandemic stunted the film industry, it led to the creative sectors embracing virtual technology as global travel was restricted.
“There are obvious time and cost benefits to using virtual production but as a creative, for me, it just means that you have a lot more control over your idea.”
He said the technology enables creatives to be as “ambitious” as they like to see what is happening in real-time and to visualise how the final content will look, without the considerations of logistics.
“You can try things out and test things in a way you couldn’t do with green screens.”
Pointing to how it can be used for social media, he showcased with one of the students how a large amount of varied content can all be created in one day for TikTok, as an example, with different backgrounds and illustrations.
Oliver Osborne, Senior Art Director at CreativeRace, took to the stage to discuss the possibilities tech can open up for both brands and creative companies.
He pointed to food photography the agency has created for brands such as Greggs and ASDA, which he said “takes a huge amount of craft” to get the perfect image.
“Food shoots on location are a logistical nightmare and it’s very expensive.”
CreativeRace food shoots.
Whereas in the studio with XPLOR’s technology, he said there is no need to battle the weather, contend with location permits, be restricted by daylight hours or cram studio lights into small spaces.
“I get very excited about the prospect of being able to bring all of these locations right here into this studio,” he said.
Opening up the floor to a Q&A session, there was a question about the sustainability elements involved in the production facilities as film and TV clients are increasingly viewing Albert accreditation – which encourages the industry to reduce its carbon footprint – as a necessity.
CreativeRace’s CEO Rob Shaw said it is “higher on people’s agenda than it ever has been”, reducing the need for having to fly people around the world as you can create the same content in a virtual environment.
While the sets used on The Mandalorian series are “twice as big if not bigger”, Christopher said the scale of the studios in Wakefield are perfect for the use of advertising and filming social campaigns.
