blog 2023 5 min read
How Previz can support your next creative project
Creative projects all start with a vision - an idea of the end product, and how its audience will experience it. The challenge is translating this vision into that final form, and keeping it as close to what was originally intended as possible. For larger productions, in which whole teams of creatives collaborate to try and form something that is greater than their combined parts, this challenge is still bigger.
Pre-visualization offers teams working on complex creative projects the opportunity to collaborate and share ideas, cutting back on complications and better understanding the common goal they’re working towards. Through disguise Cloud’s Previz capabilities, disguise users can take productions in new directions, taking advantage of the benefits pre-visualization offers.
Exploring pre-visualization
Pre-visualization is a tool in event and production design that allows creative teams to create a projected version of what the end product will look like. The process has been around for a very long time, from film crews who storyboard each scene before filming to theatre directors creating miniature mock-ups of the stage design. But advancing technologies, from 3D mapping to augmented reality, has created new opportunities both in terms of what a production can incorporate and how elaborate a pre-visualization can be rendered. For disguise users, this means using Previz within the same workflows that you can create your production with, giving you an adaptable look at your progress while allowing for reviews to take place with different stakeholders.
Improving efficiency
By creating pre-visualizations directly in primary workflows, Previz allows productions to maximize the efficiency of creative processes making it possible to get an accurate idea of exactly where the production is at any given moment.
Live events
For complex live productions, this is an invaluable tool. Touring shows rarely have the opportunity to extensively test out production designs in each venue, loading in entire sets that might incorporate lighting and projections with less than a day to ensure everything is working as it should.
With Previz, the most vital checks can be carried out before the crew even reaches the theatre. Each element can be mapped to the precise dimensions of the venue, and explored from different angles, providing confidence in every inch of the set.
Location-based experiences
The same can be achieved for location-based experiences where projections need to be mapped on complex surfaces, such as when Kia activated a Times Square Takeover with LED content mapped all around the location. The content was mapped out in Previz before the event, which would have otherwise been impossible.
Read our case study to learn more
Film and TV
Pre-visualization also allows film and television productions to better prepare for filming. As well as offering those same benefits around pre-production set design, Previz enables crews to better take advantage of new advances in virtual production and augmented reality. Both technologies have seen an explosion in use and interest in recent years, but can offer complex challenges that are easily solved by the ability to create and adapt every element of the production before filming starts. Live broadcasters can understand where talent needs to stand to make the most of augmented reality elements, and film and television directors can prepare a variety of different set-ups, all accessible instantly, allowing them to film multiple options of scenes and make the most of their time on set.
Collaborate effortlessly
Operating within disguise’s workflows, Previz is the perfect tool for collaborative productions that combine a range of different design elements or draw on skills from talent across different companies or even continents.
Accessible at any time through cloud computing, it’s easy to drop in on a production that’s still in the middle of the design process and get a holistic idea of where your teams are. Operating on the cloud allows for everyone to work on a project simultaneously: a cinematographer in one country can plan his shots in Previz while adapting them in real-time to changes being made by a production designer in another.
Speed up approvals
Digitally rendering your production in advance is useful for more than perfecting the final product - it can be a key element to sharing your initial vision and getting the approval you need to start the project in the first place.
Creative leads can use Previz to secure vital investments or unlock extra funds that will allow them to better realise their concept. Using disguise’s Previz, it’s possible to explore an early version of a creative project and better share with potential investors exactly what they are supporting, helping to make them feel more involved and emotionally connected.
Virtual reality (VR) technology even allows you to explore a pre-visualization through VR headsets, giving a 360° experience that captures every inch of your production without having to physically create a mock-up. Putting your cast, crew or investors in the midst of a working set can spark new and unexpected responses, and enable your production to consider possibilities that might never have crossed your minds otherwise.
Mark Cunniffe, Production Designer for Ed Sheeran’s latest Mathematics tour, used VR to show promoters what the stage design looked like - getting their buy-in for his concept.
Learn more about the tour by reading our case study
Unleash the power of Previz in the Cloud
For several years, creatives have relied on pre-visualization to help them better realise their ambitions - but it’s never been easier or more accessible than it is now. disguise’s Previz feature connects you with every conceivable element of your production, allowing you to digitally render and examine it, perfecting everything from vital edits to finishing touches.
Now, it is available on our Cloud platform, empowering greater collaboration across teams.
