Virtual production has rapidly become one of the most promising techniques in media. But while a huge and sophisticated real-time display instead of a green screen solves many problems, it also creates new ones. The creators of Netflix’s mind-bending Dark took on this challenge for the production of their new show, 1899 — and combined old-school cinema chops with cutting-edge tech and one giant, ambitious mechanism to build something literally revolutionary: a facility that they call Dark Bay.
Most people will probably be familiar with the virtual production style through the publicity surrounding The Mandalorian, which was the first content to be shot largely in this way. But even that show shot half its scenes on location — something that was more or less impossible for 1899.
I talked with Philipp Klausing, producer on t …
