In 2013, Thomas Elsaesser made the point that Liquid hyper-reality “would lead to an impression not of movement but of metamorphosis…constitutive instability of scale, mobility of point of view, and inherent liquidity of the (visual) representation’”. Conveying how visual media is progressing towards the point where digital technology is allowing us to make fiction indistinguishable from reality.

Bought to the limelight by Jon Favreau’s “The Mandalorian” (2019) the virtual set combines traditional cinematography with state-of-the-art video game technology to virtually create sets, decreasing the use of green-screens, practical effects, and on-location shooting.

As the video above goes onto demonstrate, the virtual set allows you to create a photo-realistic set that co-operates with the camera’s field of view, giving the illusion that you’re in whatever location is being projected. The LED screens also allow for more realistic lighting effects as well as allowing the actors to react to the setting around them. I find that one of the more interesting uses of this technology in “The Mandalorian” comes from Season one’s pilot episode where, Din Darjin (Pedro Pascal) meets The Client (Werner Herzog).

One would assume that this was a practically made set at first glance, but in reality, it was all done with the virtual set, save for a desk, the actors, and a couple of columns to connote depth. This aligns with Elsaesser’s argument as the virtual sets demonstrate that the gap between hyper-reality and reality is becoming increasingly smaller.

This sentiment is shared by David Rodowick (2007), who states that we face a “new kind of ontological perplexity…we are uncertain that what appears before us is an ‘image’”. Enforcing the idea that this shift from analogue to digital has enabled filmmakers to shape reality in film into whatever they please, making it look realistic and believable. Keep in mind that Rodowick said this in 2007, where most filming would either be done with green screen (with effects and backdrops put in post-production) or on location. Additionally, compared to today’s technology, the technology of the late 2000’s was less advanced. Further proving Elsaesser’s idea of a ‘metamorphosis’, because if Rodowick was intrigued about this hyper-realism in 2007, imagine how more sophisticated the methods and executions of achieving hyper-reality will be 10-20 years down the line…

Daniel Woodburn (33650807) 07/11/2022

References

“Chapter 1: The Mandalorian” (2019) The Mandalorian, season 1,episode 1.Directed by Dave Filoni, Written by Jon Favreau. Los Angeles, California: Disney+.  

Elsaesser, T (2013) Digital Cinema: Convergence or Contradiciton? In Vernallis, C., Herzog, A. and Richardson, J. The Oxford Handbook of Sound and Image in Digital Media.: United States: Oxford University Press, 2013, p.33.   

Rodowick, D.N. and American Council of Learned Societies (2007) The virtual life of film. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, p.94  

Why ‘The Mandalorian’ Uses Virtual Sets Over Green Screen | Movies Insider (2020) YouTube. Insider. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufp8weYYDE8&t=1s&ab_channel=Insider (Accessed: November 7, 2022).