Mandalorian

One effect that I really wanted to mention can be seen in the Disney + series The Mandalorian. This effect sees the directors forgetting blue/green screen for backgrounds and instead favouring a circular screen behind the actors.

This screen (shown above) may sound insane as it would seem like it would only provide a very flat background and not allow for any depth within the scene, right?

Well, not really. As due to the circular shape of the screen they are able to show the background on screen, without compromising the shot of the actor. However, the main reason that this works is due to running the footage through a game engine.

This game engine works because it is hooked up to the camera. This allows the background that is within the frame to render very quickly, thus providing a high resolution for the background.

However, the team working on The Mandalorian take this one step further as they will line up the physical set with the screen behind. This can be seen in the image above. Doing this provides depth within the scene and also allows the actors to interact with the environment and, since the set looks like it’s connected to the other rocks on the screen, it provides the illusion that the character is actually standing in the environment.

The reason I wanted to include this is because, this is a revolutionary development in visual effects and could potentially become “the norm” in the years to come.