3D LED screen technology used to film Barbie, Dune, The Mandalorian comes to Melbourne university

After a year of construction, the new LED Volume Screen has opened at the Victorian College of the Arts. (Supplied: Drew Eschberg)

Some of the best movie scenes of all time have been shot using a green screen, with the background manipulated in post-production.

For actors, it may feel a little awkward.

But with 3D LED screen technology, actors can react to the digital scene behind them in real time.

Virtual sets have been embraced by Hollywood, notably in The Mandalorian (2019) which was one of the first major productions that used LED walls instead of a green screen.

Since then, Barbie, Dune and a growing list of blockbusters have taken advantage of the technology in their films.

Now film students in Melbourne have access to the same cutting-edge technology, at a custom-built studio in Southbank at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA).

Senior lecturer and head of virtual production Andrew O’Keefe said the LED screens had the highest resolution in the country, bringing a new level of realism to the performance.

“No actors are performing against a little green tennis ball on a stick and saying, ‘so that’s the dragon’. They can turn left and look, and there is the dragon,” he said.

Alekh Chapman, a second-year student at VCA, said he was inspired by the filming techniques used in the Mandalorian and had been learning virtual production skills.

“The possibilities are really just endless into how you can use it,” he said.

“It just feels like you can lift the production off the ground and it can go anywhere in your imagination.

“It doesn’t have to be a place that actually exists.”

Aussies on the world stage

Mr O’Keefe said upskilling filmmakers would allow Australian voices to be heard more widely.

“It opens up a bigger industry. It’s a whole new industry that needs to be developed and we are teaching those skills here,” he said.

Kelly Williams works in the industry but is completing a micro-certification in the hopes it will add to her own practice.

“I was really excited to get started on it to keep up with what’s happening in the industry — with AI and everything it’s scary,” she said.

“It’s nice to have the opportunity to see it and have a bit more tangible in my mind. So it’s a little bit less frightening.”

She said it was a great privilege to be part of the class and that using a dynamic background was “mind-blowing”.

A series of short courses are being run out of the VCA studio for filmmakers, animators, game developers and 3D modellers.

The University said the technology was being built into the curriculum for future VCA graduates.