Summary
The filming technology known as The Volume has seemingly revolutionized the shooting process for many projects that have used it, most notablyThe MandalorianandAhsoka. But while this screen-based rig has made things easier for some, others have had a bit of a culture shock.
For those unfamiliar, The Volume is essentially a huge enclosure of ultra-HD screens showing the environment of whichever scene is being filmed. But more than that, thisgroundbreaking tech seen inThe Mandalorianand others moves the environment along with the camera. This maintains the 3-dimensional aspect of the scene while avoiding the obvious pitfalls of simply putting a static image behind the actors. It might seem like a dream come true for many. But for others, it takes a bit of adjusting.
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That was the case with cinematographer Eric Steelberg, who worked onThe Mandalorian,Ahsoka, and evenGhostbusters: Afterlife, among many other notable projects. In an interview withThe Direct, he detailed his experience with The Volume. “When I startedAhsoka, that was my first exposure to The Volume or even seeing it in person,” Steelberg explained. “Everything else, even when we’re shooting sets on blue screen, it’s all pretty traditional, it’s all things that we’re used to, it’s things that I’ve done onGhostbustersand, more recently,Hawkeye. Everything’s real. Everything’s there in front of you.”
A big part ofshooting with The Volumeinvolves creating virtual environments and ensuring they’re all meticulously put together before filming can even begin. Sometimes, this even comes months before filming, which was shocking to Steelberg. “And that is the trickiest thing: trying to create something virtually with a lighting style that matches,” he went on, “because you have to lock in… you have to make the decisions about what you want that to look like months, months, and months before you actually get to shoot it. So you’re making decisions that you gotta get stuck with… Not stuck, but you make decisions that you have to live with later on that you can’t change. So… if I had a sudden a last-minute inspiration of how I wanted to change the lighting in a virtual background, I was very limited to or not able to do that.”
This may sound like Steelberg would prefernot to use The Volume like the production forAndor. But he has a pretty pragmatic view of the whole thing. “And it’s not an issue or a problem,” he clarified. “It’s just learning how to work in a new environment with a new tool. But what it gives you is fantastic. You do things that you can’t do otherwise, and you get the benefit from it, which is so great, is you get really interesting lighting from the environment around you, which you don’t as easily get when you’re like on a blue screen, right? Because the screen itself, the content on the screen itself is providing you with the lighting that would kind of be for in their actual location if it was a real place, more or less. I mean, that’s the idea of that, which is why it works so great with reflective services, like helmets.”
It makes sense that there would be a bit of a learning curve with new tech. There are stillpros and cons to using The Volume, but a good cinematographer like Steelberg can find a way to make the pros shine through. He did just that with some of the breathtaking moments inAhsokaand other projects. Here’s hoping he keeps bringing out the best in this relatively new tech.
