Alan Bibby on Virtual Production in 2024 and the Future

From a background in design, advertising and fine art, Alan Bibby has carved out an impressive career in the industry directing commercials, fashion films and music videos. He is known for his collaborations with artists such as Stevie Wonder, Ariana Grande, Pharrell Williams, Zendaya, Coldplay and Rihanna as well as with globally iconic brands including Audi, Lexus, Microsoft, Google, Sony, Nike, Marc Jacobs, General Motors, IBM and Budweiser. 

Alan's films have been shown at a wide variety of international festivals and museums from MoMA PS1 and the Museum of Art and Design in New York to the Tate Modern in London and Palais de Tokyo in Paris. 

With a focus on automotive, fashion and technology, his eye for design, storytelling and visual effects has created award-winning work exploring the intersections between art, music, advertising and culture. 

Becoming an absolute necessity for advertising and entertainment production during the covid-19 pandemic, virtual production has gone on to revolutionise commercial production pipelines by offering unprecedented levels of efficiency and opening up new avenues for creativity. Combining physical and virtual filmmaking techniques to create cutting-edge media which seamlessly integrates digital environments with live-action footage, virtual production enables filmmakers to visualise and manipulate scenes in real time. In turn the pre-production, production, and post-production phases are effectively streamlined as this innovative approach not only enhances collaboration among directors, cinematographers, and VFX artists but also allows for greater flexibility in decision-making and faster iteration cycles. 

However, with all these proposed improvements to the creative production process on offer, why is it that all the top Google results when you search ‘virtual production’ are still stuck on explaining what it is in the first place? Shouldn’t it, at this point, have moved on to examples of how it’s being utilised the world over? Or at least an article or two from industry leaders’ perspectives giving tips and tricks? 

The reality is that the evolution of this technology is still unfolding before our eyes and pioneers are rarely cognisant of their pioneering, especially while the iron’s still hot. 

For now, we as an industry primarily view VP as being the answer for production issues where tighter budgets impose challenges when deciding where to shoot, how to shoot and for how long on location. These perks are all valuable and great, but leaning on this singular tool as a catch-all problem solver puts the production on a one way track to landing a one-note, uniquely VP 'look'. 

It’s the same effect as if you were to use a steadicam with a 50mm lens for every shot. You’d never do that. You’d use the tool where it works to tell a specific story. 

Collectively, we need to shift the mindset from looking at it as just an answer to some common problems to seeing it as an integral addition to the toolbox which frees creatives up to dive into the content deeper. What amazing ideas couldn't we shoot because they were too dangerous to do so? Or, better yet, too expensive? Zooming out and thinking about it from another direction we see that if money is no object it isn’t just good news for profit margins, it’s great news for filmmakers that have a phobia of limitations and would love to do crazier and crazier shit for their clients. 

A sure fire way to avoid being bottlenecked into any unwanted style or VP 'tell' is the same methodology we use to keep our work fresh - take risks. Approach it like it is a traditional shoot and don't compromise simply based on the tools. Work with the best of breed artists and do not let them compromise. Ultimately, don’t let technology define you. Make sure to keep using yours and your crew's artistry. 

Actors can often feel limited on VP’s volume stages given that there is obviously less of a tangible environment for them to pull from. Look to your production design team to improve upon that human element, encourage them to discover new ways of doing more with less. Bank on your Gaffer / Light Techs to account for any virtual light source and apply holistic thinking with that in mind as they make plans for the practical lighting. 

The camera no longer needs to account for the visual effects that will be implemented later on down the pipeline. VP flips that workflow on its head. Using Unreal Engine to create full environments and extensions of sets means the camera is freed up to move and the world forms in reaction to it. 

So, here’s a new one to chew on - fix it in pre! Designate shots in the pre-vis phase that mind perspective with the aim of keeping anything from falling flat. Maybe it’s a wide shot of feet on the ground - all it takes is one moment to bring a world created from scratch into reality for the audience. (Of course, this isn’t a foreign concept. It is the same kind of shot making / worldbuilding that you’d expect to do during 'traditional' production.) 

The best place to exemplify the phrase “it takes a village” is on-set and that remains a constant during all production, virtual or otherwise. 

My sign-off is a shout out to agencies + brands: go to creatives with the outlandish, seemingly impossible concepts! Pitch ideas even if there are roadblocks in the way of shooting on location or even on set period! Ask us what we would do! If we all work to shake up our preconceived notions of what is 'doable', we can stretch this thing to test the boundaries which has always been ( and always will be ) a method that leads to creating impactful, immersive and ground breaking experiences for our audiences.