Cinematographers for The Batman and House of the Dragon have given an insight into the pros and cons of using the state-of-the-art studio known as the Volume. In an interview, cinematographers for both productions stated that the soundstage may give certain benefits, but also explained that the stage had several drawbacks as well.
Initially developed for The Mandalorian, the Volume is a visual effects technology composed of a video wall that displays virtual effects on stage in real time. The technology has been heralded as revolutionary, but there have been some who note that it is not a one-size-fits-all situation. The Volume can only be used in certain productions and works best under certain visual conditions. For instance, Andor didn't use The Mandalorian's Volume filming tech.
A report by The Hollywood Reporter aims to take a look at the Volume technology and expose its growing pains. In doing so, the outlet spoke to cinematographers for The Batman and House of the Dragon in order to better understand its workings. One commonality appeared to be that the Volume worked best in soft lighting. "If you’ve got something happening sort of in a dawn or dusk environment — what we did in The Batman in the construction site overlooking Gotham — then it works really well because you’re dealing with soft light," explained The Batman cinematographer Greig Fraser. "Particularly for The Batman, it was very good because they were long scenes and normally, if you want to shoot something at dawn or dusk, you’ve really only got that short window of time."
House of the Dragon director Claire Kilner concurred, stating, “It’s especially good for never-ending sunrises and sunsets, for example.” It appears that House of the Dragon lighting that might be too bright or too dark doesn't pair well with the Volume's technology. For the Volume to work at its highest capacity, a production needs to set a scene at dawn or dusk because softer light palettes are more plausible at those times.
Interestingly, THR also stated that the Volume soundstage at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden in London, where House of the Dragon was filmed, will already be shutting down. The article quotes a Warner Bros. rep as saying, “Due to the high demand for studio production space, the virtual stage at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden will revert to a traditional soundstage in order to provide more flexibility to our clients. Productions will still have the option to bring in virtual production technology as and when required.” How this will affect House of the Dragon and its special effects heavy, dragon-laden production is unknown.
Nor is it known how The Batman's production of various villain spinoffs might be affected. Though the Volume has its drawbacks, it has produced some truly gorgeous shots since its inception. Both The Batman and House of the Dragon are visually stunning to look at - maybe that's due to the fact that both projects do, in fact, contain plenty of scenes set at dusk or dawn.
The Batman and House of the Dragon season 1 are now available on HBO Max.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter