Samsung is moving in on Britain's virtual production industry, partnering with Twickenham Film Studios and Quite Brilliant to create what will become one of the U.K.’s largest LED display sound stages.
Samsung's Wall for Virtual Production will be housed at the historic Stage 3 in Twickenham Film Studios. It’s a massive 24 x 4.5 metre wall with a 105 square-foot LED ceiling and there are additional mobile LED totem walls available to create even more immersive studio experiences. It will be equipped with a motion control crane and a permanent turntable when installation is completed at the end of June.
The new installation makes use of Samsung’s most advanced IVC 2.1 pixel pitch and ARRI colour calibration management technologies. It’s the first major LED screen build Samsung has undertaken in the U.K. and its third overall, after completing earlier installations in Paris and in Paju, South Korea.
According to Samsung, the immersive setup integrates new innovations such as 3D lookup tables to deliver improved colour correction, wide-gamut HDR colour processing and additional colour enhancement capabilities. The display offers a 4:9 aspect ratio with a blazing-fast 12,288Hz refresh rate, and features Black Seal Technology+ to enhance black levels, with 20-bit processing for precision colour mapping.
The display is designed to aid filmmakers in creating virtual content that integrates seamlessly with real-time visual effects technology. To offer a more realistic field of view, it features a curvature range that can extend up to 5,800R.
The company said the partnership notably gives it an established base at Twickenham, which boasts an Oscar award-winning post-production department. As such, it should increase the company’s standing and reputation in the emerging virtual production industry.
Samsung’s chief customer officer Debora Honig said she’s excited about how the installation can “transform virtual production”, adding that it paves the way for “limitless potential” for filmmakers and other content creators, “amplifying digital effects”.
Filmmaker and actor Kenneth Branagh, who has been working at Twickenham for the past five years, said the partnership with Samsung reinforces the studio’s position “as a vital part of the British film industry."
The virtual production specialist Quite Brilliant, which notably won the Advertising Producers’ Association’s ‘Best use of Virtual Production Award’ in 2023, is said to have helped design the installation. It lent its expertise to help ensure that the stage can accommodate everything from films to advertising and even social media content.
Its Managing Director Chris Chaundler explained that the company worked with Samsung to meet the diverse needs of producers and directors alike. “This is designed by filmmakers for filmmakers,” he insisted.
