Introducing Leandro
Leandro Righini is writer, filmmaker and producer based in Finland. He is Co-Founder at Vurt - VR for Spaces. Leandro has worked on the Matrix Reloaded and on Moulin Rouge that won the Academy award nomination for best sound. He agreed to share with OpEN ecosystem his thoughts and vision on the 5G, AR/VR great use cases.
We see AI and robotics in Matrix – was it at that time just a science fiction or a vision of the future?
I have been working in film, television, commercial production and VR for over 20 years now and during that time I have been lucky enough to work on some iconic productions, such as Moulin Rouge and the Matrix Reloaded. At the time I was a sound man working on the crew, but I still got to see some incredible productions in the making and this has profoundly affected how I see technology and how I view storytelling.
For me, the Matrix was an incredibly influential film which at the time really opened my eyes to the potential for technology to be a force for good or bad in the world. I had never really considered AI or the possibilities of a constructed reality. I think we are at an interesting point in technology right now where we have seen the possible destructive and disruptive force of simplistic AI’s or algorithms though social media, media buying AI’s and the phenomenon of fake news. I think the Matrix like most good Science Fiction really was a vision of the future, and a warning!
Did you expect that Robots are going to become a reality?
I think that Robots have rapidly become a reality. We see drones, delivery bots, self-driving cars, industrial robots, search and rescue bots and many more forms of robotics rapidly accelerating in their development and deployment. It’s just a matter of time before they are everywhere, providing services, enabling new business models and conveniences. This is an industry which will be really affected by the potential of 5G networks, not only to connect with each other and create swarms but also for reducing the cost by centralizing non-essential processing to the cloud.
What can 5G bring for the streaming, the film production and the HD image exactly?
I think the impact of 5G on the media industry is going to be profound. Its literally the dawning of a new era. There are many sides to media production but if we think about just a few of the obvious ones we can get a glimpse of how 5G can impact the future of film production.
Let’s take streaming. Currently when we watch video content on our mobile devices there is a compromise. We buffer the footage and then downgrade quality to make up for lack of bandwidth or latency. For this reason, its seldom that video is delivered in 4K. It is often shot in 4k but seldom delivered in 4K. This is because the current networks can’t reliably deliver 4K material. But this is going to change and with stable high quality streaming the need for high quality content will once again be a premium. This can have a big impact on professionals who are currently competing heavily with prosumers and amateurs. It will increase the investment companies have to make to compete professionally since delivering high quality will become increasingly important - all in all good for the hardware manufacturers. The other side of the coin is that this will also open up the market considerably for new media formats which include additional layers of information. These layers will get bundled into new media formats but will include 4K video, 8K video and beyond, 360 video, room scale VR, depth information, tactile or haptic and augmented reality layers. These are all formats and technologies which are converging and are currently too heavy to deliver reliably though 4G.
How do you see the usage of 5G for sport events and games?
5G cameras will be able to link directly to centralized Broadcast stations – eliminating the need for OB or Outside Broadcast Units. If you consider the current technical infrastructure to professionally broadcast from an outdoor event like a football game, it involves control rooms, technical directors, a ton of cable, satellite links and bunch of expensive equipment and people present at the venue. It’s a large operation and requires a lot of people. In the future you will be able to centralize the broadcasting services and connect directly from the field eliminating the need to have as many people managing the signal at the actual game and allowing this to be run from the TV stations. This opens opportunities to monetize and broadcast sport and activities that were previously unprofitable which will be a game changer for niche sports and communities. It will also bring competition to previously locked up industries. This can also have a big impact also in skills sets – can get operators with world class skills to remotely operate camera systems while sitting in their home city at a production facility or even from home. I think that ability to stream from cameras will also create new work flows which allow cameras to be smaller, lighter and impact the size and weight of professional camera systems.
How would you consider 5G for the Virtual Cinema production?
In terms of the techniques of production, I mentioned in the context of broadcast that we will be able to use remote camera operators and that you will have the potential to broadcast directly from a camera at a professional level. But one of the real game changers is going to be Virtual cinema. Quite a few technologies are currently converging that is totally changing the way in which we will make films in the future. 3D Game engines which can render photorealistic environments in real time, Motion capture, depth cameras, sensor technology, photogrammy – all of which allow us to capture real performances and environments, Virtual reality and Augmented reality which allow us to step into or layer over a fully immersive world and super high-speed networks powered by 5G. In the very recent past to make a 3d film or incorporate 3d graphics/VFX into a film was an extremely costly affair reserved for only blockbusters, but that’s already trickled down so that advanced VFX is being used in kids show, short films and just about anywhere. The work flow was extremely complicated and involved Pre – visualizations aka pre –vis, On-set visualizations and Post vis with the fully realized image only coming together after months or even years of work. Now we can capture performance on a green screen and soon just about anywhere with cameras that read all the depth information and perfectly recreate these performances as digital assets. In real time thanks to game engines, VR / AR and high-speed networks you can actually watch their performances in the virtual environment. With virtual cameras you can then film them and output your film. One of the game changers here is that, the actors, the director, the camera operator, the lighting designer (DOP), the production designer can all be in separate locations – operating and making changes in real time to the environment, the lighting, the camera moves in the virtual environment or virtual set. For this to happen we need 5G – with its bandwidth and low latency. These environments are soon going to be available for everyone. You will no longer need a permit to film in New York City – it’s going to be virtual. What about Helsinki? It’s already being done!
How do you imagine the VR/AR and the fully immersive world in the film industry? Do you think new generation access networks are chance for the culture creation and education?
5G and VR/AR are made for each other. VR content needs high resolution and depth sense (6dof) in order to deliver fully immersive content whether for entertainment, education and training or tactical uses. AR needs a lightweight hardware form factor that is lighting quick and can farm out some of the processing in order to miniaturize and become an everyday wearable. 5G perfectly fits these requirements with enough potential speed at the edge to take some of the processing load off the hardware and make ubiquitous AR a possibility. The implications for production are huge. It’s not one but two entirely new media platforms which can potentially change how we interact with everything. Just in terms of storytelling and entertainment the doors are opening to entirely new experiences enabled by high bandwidth low latency networks.
I see a future where everything has a virtual or digital double and the lines between reality and entertainment get fuzzy. Right now, I think it’s fascinating to be working on VR and in media as we watch it change and evolve in real time. When 5G hits these already fast-moving spaces are going to accelerate even further. I think that one of the reasons its difficult to properly understand the impact that 5G will have is because it represents a singularity of sorts. Its difficult for us to understand the seismic change that it will have on how we consume media, interact with virtual and augmented spaces, socialize, commercialize and evolve our cultures and communities at that speed.
One final question – what’s the next thing you will be working on?
I have recently founded a VR start up called Vurt – VR for public, made simple. Our aim is to make products and accessories for simplifying VR in public spaces. Our first product is the Vurt Hang case, which allows you to hang VR headsets in showrooms, exhibition spaces, retail or lobbies without the need for straps, remotes or handlers, It’s an easy to buy solution for using VR for your company. I am also consulting museums and companies on using VR in public and am designing VR rooms for a few of our clients. I am also creating content concepts for Virtual Helsinki in collaboration with Zoan and producing commercial VR, commercial films and documentaries though our companies, www.makefilms.fi, www.vurt.fi