At this year’s Screen Summit, our COO, Bee Devine, joined senior representatives from Sky Elstree Studios and Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden for Spotlight on Studios, a panel exploring how studios are evolving to support the needs of today’s producers.
For Garden Studios, one of the key topics was how tecchnology like Virtual Production can support independent producers, helping them bring ambitious creative ideas to screen while making the most of their production budgets.
Supporting independent producers from script to screen
Our approach to technology goes beyond the Virtual Production stage. We work with productions from the early stages of development, helping producers understand where technology can add value and how it can be integrated into their production plans, such as AI-assisted asset creation and workflow tools.
The Garden Studios team can work with independent producers to break down scripts, identify scenes that could benefit from technology and explore which production approach makes the most creative and financial sense.
By considering Virtual Production during the planning process, rather than during production, producers can make more informed decisions about locations, environments and workflow methods. This can help reduce the need for extensive location shoots, minimise logistical challenges and make production budgets work harder.
Virtual Production technology and expertise under one roof
Virtual Production can offer new ways to approach locations, environments and complex scenes, but knowing where and when to use it is just as important as the technology itself.
Our new generation Virtual Production stage stands permanently in a dedicated 7,815 sq ft stage and features a 24m wide by 5m high LED wall, alongside a 10m x 5m motorised LED ceiling. The ceiling is the only one in the UK with matching high-resolution pixel pitch ensuring that reflections on vehicles are perfect. It can also tilt up to 90 degrees to operate as a front LED wall, creating a full 360-degree volume, and can travel up to 18m front to back for rapid reconfiguration.
The stage has been designed with flexibility in mind, supporting a range of Virtual Production workflows and optimised for driving process work. Its configuration can help reduce vehicle repositioning and downtime between setups, while giving productions greater control over complex environments and sequences.
For independent producers, this means access to next-generation Virtual Production technology alongside the production expertise to make it work for their project.
At Garden Studios, we believe that great independent films can be made by bringing together the right people, expertise and tools.
