MGX Studios uses Disguise xR to shoot car-chase scenes in action film ANKA

When “ANKA,” Turkey’s first car-chase action feature, opted to use virtual production to shoot car interiors, producer MGX Film turned to its MGX Studio division who used Disguise to make filming the scenes an efficient, reliable and smooth process that shortened production time.

The challenge

The main challenges involved capturing the on-site photogrammetry and video recording and creating the 3D copies of multiple locations in a short amount of time.

Instead of closing streets to get the desired shot, video scenes were shot and plates were created and mapped onto the LED video screen.

The camera movement and the content displayed on the LED video screen for the car interior shots was very fast, so some optimisation processes in Unreal Engine were deployed to enable the team to shoot very fast, radical and sharp camera movements smoothly without stuttering. Virtual Production in the studio also had to be completed in a single day.

The solution

MGX Studio deployed one Disguise vx 1 and three vx 2 media servers for the project, which allowed the team to manipulate and format video content and map it to the LED video screen while being flexible and comfortable as the production was underway.

Using photogrammetry and reference images, they created 3D copies of the physical spaces and composed scenes in Unreal Engine with lighting and texturing appropriate for the time of day. They also manipulated the video taken with the cinema camera and created plates to map onto the LED video screen. Instead of closing streets to shoot the desired scenes, MGX created 3D copies of the location, transformed them into scenes in Unreal Engine and mapped the video plates in accordance with the shooting plan to make production more efficient, safe and comfortable for everyone.

Director Süleyman Mert Özdemir and Cinematographers Mehmet Başbaran and Eyüp Boz chose to map video plates onto the LED video screen and shoot the stationary car interiors in the studio, for a more cinematic and realistic look – complete with interactive reflections. In addition, the actors could better interact with the environment, and the cinematographers could see the ambience and locales outside the vehicle and plan shooting angles accordingly.