But Santa Monica-based esports broadcaster Super League Gaming Inc. says its new virtual production studio, unveiled on Dec. 9, will address these difficulties by giving producers the opportunity to oversee shoots remotely.
“We have a solution that allows a limitless number of people who are not able to be on set to monitor in real time all of the video content being captured on a set and also to communicate with the talent, producers and writers,” said Chief Commercial Officer Matt Edelman.
The company’s new division, called Virtualis Studios, came together as Super League adjusted its own production process amid the pandemic.
Edelman said the company already has experience coordinating productions remotely because its livestreamed esports events frequently include teams situated in multiple locations around the world. Once public health restrictions went into effect and the company closed its Santa Monica studio, Super League Gaming quickly adapted its production methods.
“We were able to advance the tools we had developed quite considerably so that within about three weeks we were able to do almost everything we could do inside the studio on a fully remote basis,” Edelman said.
Virtualis Studios brings this cloud-based platform — which Super League likens to a “virtual control room” — to other companies in the video production business.
“Even production companies deploying Covid-safe practices don’t necessarily have all the experience that we’ve garnered over time,” Edelman said. “We didn’t create something from scratch in order to do this. We built upon a technical architecture and workflow that is highly applicable to multiple video production projects ranging from unscripted programming to commercial shoots.”
Culver City-based advertising agency The Woo has already worked with the studio to support an upcoming campaign for an unnamed brand.
Lorna Paul, head of production at The Woo, said in a statement that the studio “went beyond” the agency’s expectations in the remote monitoring capabilities offered.
“Our client was able to provide real-time input throughout the production with ease, which helped ensure we were meeting their core objectives,” Paul said.
