Disguise is partnering with MARS Volume, created by Bild Studios, to launch an Accelerator course that lets students get hands-on with the same MARS LED volume used on 3 Body Problem, Culprits, Gangs of London and more.
The course — Disguise’s 23rd Accelerator to date — follows the success of its other training programs in Los Angeles, New York, Barcelona, West Yorkshire and Asia. It will be taught in three distinct phases. The Disguise Learn phase enables students to access online tutorials on real-time fundamentals in Unreal Engine. Then the Classroom phase takes them through more advanced concepts with an instructor.
Finally, there is the practical phase. Taught over three days, this phase will immerse trainees in a pre-planned film shoot at MARS Volume, one of the largest virtual production facilities in the UK. There, they’ll capture scenes on the 8,000-square-foot MARS Volume using its 220-degree 25.5 x 5m curved LED wall, 108m² lighting LED ceiling, stYpe RedSpy camera tracking systems and Disguise VX 4 media servers.
“As new UK tax credits bring more productions to London, we’ve seen increased demand for courses that give storytellers an accurate simulation of the demands faced on real VP sets,” says Addy Ghani, Vice President of Virtual Production at Disguise. “With this London Virtual Production Accelerator, we’re not just helping more creatives bridge that gap. We’re also helping to advance career opportunities with Virtual Production Operators.”
By the end of the course, students will have had practical experience trying multiple roles on set including Disguise operations, game engine integration, practical lighting and cinematography. From pre-production to in-camera VFX, colour workflows, frustum optimisation and more, each student will have all the skills to excel on a state-of-the-art LED production.
“We’ve been working with Disguise for over 10 years, delivering hundreds of software training sessions globally while also using Disguise technology on some of our most ambitious projects ever since we first worked together on the Red Hot Chili Peppers Tour and Coachella in 2011,” says Joanna Alpe, Head of Academic Strategy at MARS Volume & MARS Academy. “Since we opened the doors in 2021, education has been at the forefront with the training courses we have delivered through MARS Academy, supported by Screenskills. Partnering with Disguise this summer to deliver the Virtual Production Accelerator in London represents another stride forward and great brand alignment, welcoming Disguise to our studio, an undeniable world leader in this field. We can’t wait to get started.”
About MARS Volume
MARS Volume is a 12,000 sqft virtual production and in-camera VFX facility, housing a 25.5m x 5m LED wall, located in West London. MARS Volume provides the ideal Virtual Production (VP) facility, providing a full-service solution for both traditional and disruptive content creators, across projects of all sizes and budgets. Combining state-of-the-art video game engines, camera-tracking technology, the most powerful graphics-servers and LED screens we have created a versatile and immersive performance stage that blends the physical and virtual world. MARS Volume has been host to blue chip productions such as 3 Body Problem for Netflix, Culprits for Disney and Gangs of London for Sky among others. Recently MARS Volume was awarded the Volume Innovation award in the Excellence in Virtual Production Awards.
About MARS Academy
Launched in 2022, MARS Academy is the virtual production and in-camera VFX training arm of MARS Volume. Endorsed and supported by Screenskills, the MARS Academy key focus is to deliver ‘Hands on, Volume based’ training. Their point of difference in the market is offering training directly from their commercially working VP Volume (MARS Volume). In this way participants can learn directly from the practitioners and technology workflows that are exemplar of the latest commercial working practices. So far, MARS Academy has successfully graduated over 150 film and television professionals.
About Disguise
Disguise is the industry-leading platform sitting at the heart of a new era of visual experiences. One powerful integrated system of software, hardware and services to help create the next dimension of real-time spectacle. Disguise partners with the biggest entertainment brands and companies in the world to deliver the A-list of live music events, live TV broadcasts, immersive experiences, installations, theater, film and TV production, corporate communications and brand product launches. Working with Disney, Snapchat, Netflix, ESPN, U2 at the Sphere, the Burj Khalifa, U2 and Beyoncé, Disguise is the number one partner delivering the next dimension of entertainment.
