What is virtual production? A newcomer's guide

Virtual production sounds technical, and the industry does love its jargon. But the core idea is genuinely simple — and once it clicks, you'll spot it everywhere, from car adverts to your favourite series. Here's the friendly, no-jargon version for anyone hearing the term for the first time.

The one-sentence explanation

Virtual production means filming your actors or product in front of a giant screen that shows a realistic, moving 3D environment — so the background is really there on the day, instead of being added afterwards on a computer.

That's it. Everything else is detail about how we make that screen convincing.

How it works, step by step

1. We build an environment. A 3D environment — a forest, a city, a showroom, a spaceship — is created in the same kind of software that powers modern video games.
2. We put it on the wall. A huge, curved screen made of LED panels (an "LED volume") displays that environment in crisp, bright detail.
3. The environment reacts to the camera. Sensors track exactly where your camera is and how it moves, so the background shifts with the right perspective — just like a real place would.
4. You shoot. The actor is really standing in that environment. The screen even lights them, so the glow of a sunset or the neon of a city falls on their face for real.

Why people are excited about it

• It looks real because it is real — in camera. Reflections, shadows and light all behave correctly, which is hard to fake later.
• Everyone sees the final shot on the day. The director, the client and the crew all look at a finished-looking image live, so decisions happen there and then.
• Any location, any time. Snow in summer, sunset at noon, a mountaintop and a boardroom in the same afternoon — no travel required.
• It's kinder to the planet. Fewer flights, less set-building and less waste. More on that in our greener film production piece.

You might know it from The Mandalorian, which was filmed almost entirely inside an LED volume. The alien landscapes weren't added later — they were on the wall, all around the cast.

A few words you'll hear (translated)

• LED volume / LED wall — the big curved screen the environment is shown on.
• Real-time rendering — the computer drawing the 3D environment instantly, live, as you shoot.
• In-camera VFX — visual effects captured for real by the camera, rather than added in post-production.
• Camera tracking — the system that keeps the background moving correctly with the camera.

Want the slightly deeper tour of the tech? Read LED volume explained. Curious whether it's right for your project? Our green screen comparison is the practical next step.

Still feels like magic?

The best way to understand virtual production is to stand in it. We're a new studio near Aalborg on a mission to make this technology approachable for everyone — not just the biggest producers. If you're curious, come and see the wall light up. We love showing people how it works.