How volumetric video brings a new dimension to filmmaking

I love making movies.

Motion pictures have been in existence

for more than a hundred years.

Filmmaking hasn't changed
for the dimensional mindset.

Placing the camera in a scene
and pressing "record" hasn't changed.

Filmmaking is still a frontal experience,

and creating the film has the possibility

to follow the same direction
of the content creation.

We still stand in front of a flat image

watching the fiction.

There's nothing wrong with it.

I love watching movies
and going to the theaters.

The experiences can be
such emotional experiences.

The arts and crafts of emotional
experiences within a frame

can be so strong

to drive a stronger emotion.

The question we're asking is,

how the experience of motion pictures
can exist beyond the flat screen?

How can we start creating content

for the next generation
of content experiences?

Traditionally, when we imagine a scene,

we look at the frame and the composition.

We have to think about how we create
depth and parallax

using foreground, background elements
as the camera moves.

With the technology today
and devices of VR glasses,

AR glasses, smart devices,

allowing three dimensional
and full navigation in space,

we have the possibility
to enable audiences

to experience content
from multiple perspectives.

What we have to think about

is how we take this technology,

all the capabilities

enabling the experience
to move farther away inside the scene.

Now, we're not talking about video games
or computer-generated actors,

which looks tremendously realistic.

We're talking about real actors
and real performance,

performing onstage.

We have to start thinking

how we capture the actors

and how we capture the real scene

in order to emerge inside.

Now, we're familiar
with the 360-degree video,

where you place the camera
inside the scene

and you can create this beautiful
panoramic image all around you,

but from the same aspect,

filmmaking is still frontal.

In order to emerge fully inside the scene,

we will need to capture the light
from all the possible directions.

We will have to surround the scene
with an enormous amount of sensors,

with all possible capabilities
to capture the light,

and enable us to emerge
inside afterwards again.

Now, in this setup,

there's no more foreground or background

or a camera placed in space,

but hundreds of sensors

capturing the light

and capturing the motion
from all the possible directions.

With the new technological advancements,

we can start looking at 3D photography,

capturing the light
from multiple perspectives,

enabling us to reconstruct the object.

This is like photography in 3D space.

Now,

with these technological advancements,

we can record video

not just as a flat image

but as a volume.

This is what we call "volumetric video,"

and it is the capability to record
every action of the scene

as a full three-dimensional volume.

Now, what is a voxel?

A voxel is like a three-dimensional pixel,

but instead of being a flat image square,

staying light and colored,

it's like a three-dimensional cube

in space,

with x, y, and z positions.

This enable us to create
a full capture of the scene

from any perspective.

Now, this renders
a fully light-immersive scene

from multiple perspectives.

This capability requires an insane amount
of information to be processed.

We will have to capture the light
from an enormous amount of cameras

to create this information.

Now, in order to do such a thing,

we would need a setup that would host
a numerous amount of cameras

installed in a stage,

and a stage big enough in order
to fit a full cinematic experience.

Now, that sounds like a crazy idea,
but that's exactly what we did.

For the last three years,

we have been building
a huge volumetric camera chamber.

It's 10,000 square feet of a stage,

enabling to capture the action
from any location.

We have deployed hundreds of cameras,

sending a tremendous amount of information

to a huge data center

powered by the Intel supercomputers.

The ability to have this 10,000 feet

enables us to fit any kind of action,

any kind of performance.

It is the size of
an average Broadway stage.

We call it Intel Studios