Exclusive: Film Soho to launch virtual production studio in central London

Talent-led film and TV group Film Soho is set to launch the first virtual production studio in Soho, central London.

The V-Studios permanent facility is set to open at the end of this year and will be based in Portland Mews Soho. It will include a 10m x 5m LED wall and is being powered by the disguise Extended Reality (xR) technology, which blends virtual and physical worlds together.

This is the latest in a number of new virtual production studios being built in the UK and across the globe, as the new technology allows filmmakers to use walls made up of LED panels that, with the help of a game engine, display real-time backdrops and visual effects, all directly on set. Major films and TV series to use the technology include Disney’s The Mandalorian, Fox’s Avatar and Netflix’s 1899.

Film Soho’s V-Studios “will allow filmmakers to place actors in breath-taking, completely controlled virtual environments, without ever having to leave Central London, and will feature a 1.5mm pixel pitch, meaning productions can get closer to the screen than ever before,” Film Soho said in a statement.

The studios’ technology will also be able to provide other solutions, such as pre-visualisation, virtual location scouting, additional photography and feature film pick-ups.

Nick Hamson and Chris Greenhill, founders of Film Soho, commented: “Film Soho are excited to launch at the end of this year, the first ever Virtual Production stage in the heart of Soho. As a talent and production led company it made perfect sense for us to incorporate Virtual Production into our film making offering. We are delighted to be able to showcase this incredible technology to the international filmmaking community in Cannes.”

Annabel Martin, director of operations added: “We are on the precipice of huge change, altering filmmaking as we know it. We are particularly excited about previsualisation, as this will really elevate and ultimately improve the content made, while reducing the carbon footprint. It’s a hugely exciting time for us as a company to be involved in this new era of filmmaking.”

Film Soho will present a preview of the technology in the garden of the Grand Hotel at the Cannes film festival on Friday 20 May.

The Film Soho group encompasses a number of brands, including Soho Talent, which develops and works with established actors to co-produce content; production company Captain Dolly led by Sally Phillips and Ronni Ancona; Studio Soho Distribution; Film Post; and KrADR, which offers a new ADR (automated dialogue replacement) Studio that has worked with the likes of Netflix (Top Boy) and Universal (Downtown Abbey).