Virtual Production with James Blevins Ep 25

What sparks your interest? Is it a painting? A movie? A song probably? For James it was the movie, ‘Close Encounters Of The Third Kind’ by Steven Speilberg. James Blevins is an amazing product consultant. He has worked for Disney, Netflix and The Mandalorian.

When James was a kid, he was amazed by filmmaking & storytelling, and it gave him the inspiration he needed to work for the film industry. Fast forward to now, he has worked on amazing movies and has met many great movie making professionals.

Being a Production Consultant is not easy, however it can be very rewarding. You get to collaborate with client managers and project managers to make sure everything is in tip-top condition. So fix your aperture, eye on the lens and enjoy this exciting episode.

Highlights of the Episode:

0:00 Introduction

1:49 James' Story

5:59 What drew you towards film making

10:25 What inspires people

11:47 The growth of technologies

13:24 Unreal and V Cams

16:50 Connectivity and Collaboration

19:07 Curiosity of new technologies

20:31 Problems encountered filming Mandalorian

22:16 Enabling editorial

24:00 How much post ICV effects need

25:43 Connection between previs and virtual art department

28:56 The rise of mini studios

29:40 Moire Effect

32:58 Standard Pixel Pitch

34:09 Tech preparation

35:21 Standard distance of the camera from the wall

37:00 Magic Box

38:32 Resistance from the visual effects to virtual production

40:25 Bravery through resistance

41:45 Advice for people still in the traditional workflow

42:53 Brainstorming app

45:07 Needs in the industry

47:44 Brain bar

50:42 Spherical LED volume

53:54 What are you most excited about in virtual production?

55:24 Motion Grade

56:46 Broadcast Virtual Production

59:25 Future of green screen and unreal engine

1:03:17 The influence of AI

Quotes:
“I love those collaborations. I love to introduce people to each other and say, Hey, you know, everyone wants the same thing, which is to create this vision, which will then make it all the way to the viewer”

- James Blevins

“Everyone needs to now jump into the pool and find out if it's for them. It's not gonna be for everyone. Because it is at this phase, there's some things that you really have to target and you really have to want the benefit that you get from the usage.” 

- James Blevins regarding the new technologies

“The best advice I ever got for setting up a shoot is to run it. This is from Clint Spillers, run it like it's a re-shoot or run it like it's pickups. That means that every department head meet they look at the pages. They understand because at reshoots everyone wants to leave anyway, so that they're all about efficiency. They're all about getting the right stuff on the stage, off the stage as quickly as possible.” 

- James Blevins on film preparation

“It'd be nice if we had this app called make a movie, which would go to a shared space where we could start to talk about a scene and people could add elements that supported a substantial amount of geometry.” 

- James Blevins

Connecting with the Guest:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-blevins-738b74/

Website: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0088320/ 

Connecting with CG Pro:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/becomecgpro

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/becomecgpro/

Website: https://www.becomecgpro.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/becomecgpro

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