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Virtual set design and TriCaster LiveSet.

Made in Hollywood Virtual Set Design

Made in Hollywood - Green Screen Reveal Made in Hollywood - Virtual Set Design
Connection III Entertainment came to Virtualsets.com when they wanted to improve the production values for their popular television show, Made in Hollywood.

It was a perfect time for Connection III to make the upgrade. The entire company was transitioning to a new facility, so everything was being designed from scratch - the production studio, office suites, edit bays, and control room.

First, Virtualsets.com consulted with Connection III executives and producers to capture their vision of the show. While the show was previously recorded entirely on location, the new vision included in-studio introductory segments for Made in Hollywood and in-studio interviews with the stars of the latest movies.

With Connection III's vision in mind, the designers at Virtualsets.com began to sketch out some preliminary virtual set design ideas. When one of those design concepts was approved, Virtualsets.com then conducted site visits in the new building, detmining how much space would need to be allocated to the studio and control room, balanced with Connection III's need to have offices, conference rooms, and production and editing suites.

"Ultimately, the type of productions and the expected design of the virtual set determined the needs of the studio space and size of the green screen," Tim Hedegaard, President of Virtualsets.com, said. "We were fortunate to be involved very early in the process with Connection III. This helped us focus on the production values as the top priority, then configure the studio space around that."

Pro Cyc Green Screen - Virtualsets.com Virtual Set Design - Large Monitor = LiveSet
This early involvement paid dividends for Connection III, Hedegaard said. "Oftentimes, we come into the design process after the studio space is configured and unchangeable. In some of those cases, we are required to design the virtual set within the constraints of the limited studio space. Obviously, being involved early in the process was a big positive."

To ensure the optimal results for the green screen studio, Virtualsets.com specified Pro Cyc's System 3EZ, with non-parabolic expanded corner. This modular cyclorama system made the green screen appear completely seamless from any angle, which helped make the task of lighting the green screen more uniform. The non-parabolic corner also eliminated the echoes and audio distortion that often occur with symmetrical (90° degree corner) cycloramas.

Kino Flo lighting was used to light the green screen and for fill lighting on the talent. Virtualsets.com has found that the quality and uniform lighting provided by the Kino Flo Image series of fixtures and lamps is unmatched by any other options on the market.

Virtualsets.com Virtual Set Design NewTek TriCaster Virtual Set Design
Working with executives and producers at Connection III, Virtualsets.com explored utilizing numerous different solutions for the virtual set hardware, working through the pros and cons of each.

No stone was left unturned in this analysis, including traveling for demos of some systems in action. Virtualsets.com presented Orad, Vizrt, Brainstorm, Ross, Hybrid, and TriCaster, among others. Ultimately, the TriCaster 8000 with Advanced Edition was selected because of the quality, functionality, and ease of use.

Virtualsets.com - Green Screen Reveal Made in Hollywood - Theatre Size Screen
The best Pro Cyc green screen and excellent Kino Flo lighting would be a waste, without the best compositing hardware. That's where the Ultimatte hardware was determined to be a necessity.

"The TriCaster 8000 has a very good keyer," Hedegaard said, "but it's missing the ability to composite shadows and fine hair detail that is vital for complete realism." Hedegaard continued, "I was fortunate to have a conversation with Andrew Cross, President and CTO of NewTek, about some clients' needs to have absolutely perfect compositing, paired with the great virtual set functionality of the TriCaster. We were very pleased to see - a couple months later - that NewTek had added the option to enable key and fill pairs to the LiveSet module in the TriCaster. This solved a very significant problem for us and our clients."

Virtualsets.com Feature Monitor Feature Stand Up Monitor
Now, getting production started in the studio each week takes only a few minutes. Connection III is now able to focus on the talent and getting the best performances, without the uncertainty of on-location environments with unexpected lighting and audio environments. Loading new shots of the virtual set design takes only seconds.

Today, Made in Hollywood is going strong. It can be seen weekly in approximately 100 million homes in the United States and around the world online.

Made in Hollywood.

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