Hello
My name is Seo Eunmin and I'm in charge of strategy and planning for virtual content at GIANTSTEP
I'm a member of the cross-planning headquarters within the GIANTSTEP
We cooperate with various production organizations within the GIANTSTEP
to make strategic solutions
and also creative solutions to create the best content
To briefly explain our work from a virtual production perspective,
We devise why virtual production is needed to reach the goal of each project,
how to make it, and what ideas are to be used to shape or differentiate these things from others
We take the lead in making solutions in the beginning stages of the project
Why did you become a virtual production planner?
Before joining the GIANTSTEP, I worked for an advertising agency for a long time
Working in advertising, which is commonly called AE, I tried to deliver certain advertising messages to consumers
Also with new creativity, the process of grabbing the attention of customers
and creating a brand's message based off of that
seemed very intriguing and fun
In fact, there are many people at our headquarters who have creative experiences from advertising agencies
Just like those people, when I first encountered various
metaverse projects in GIANTSTEP
I thought these things could provide consumers with new experiences that previous content could not,
and these are the parts that seemed appealing
And if such new content get more attention in the near future
based on these technological understandings
planning solutions that can connect this content with real consumers
or creative solutions will become much more important
From that point of view, if I were to work with GIANTSTEP
I thought I would be able to enjoy a lot of fun experiences where both parties benefit from
That's why I decided to join here
The topic of the lecture today is 'Planning of Virtual Content'
Lots of people asked various questions
Let's continue the lecture while answering each question one by one
Q. What is the main role of a planner?
Like all other content production processes
virtual content also needs a planning stage at the beginning
It's really important to set the goal for 'why do we have to make this content'
First, a clear goal must be set with the partners and staff
and we must decide on the purpose of creating the content
The work should be started only after creating a clear goal,
and based off of that, we can start creating a certain concept or setting a creative guide
Especially for virtual production, I always feel that this is the most important part
It is very important to have an exact answer for
'Why virtual production is necessary'
Because if there's no exact reason to why virtual production must be used,
There can be a great deal of confusion in the middle of the process
I'll give you an easy example
Let's say I'm going to create
a virtual soccer stadium and shoot content in it
We can always just go to a real soccer stadium
to shoot and make content there
If that's the case, why do we need a virtual soccer stadium instead of an actual soccer stadium?
I consider it very important to set the precise goal before starting the process
So for instance, needing a camera angle that's impossible to achieve in reality
or being in a stadium that no longer exists in the present
or a stadium in the future
Based on these precise reasons
we need the right plan for the content in order to yield creative ideas
that can accentuate the unique strengths of virtual production
So what my team does is
based on such goals, we plan for the actual creative ideas
And we're in charge of that work
Not only that, creative directing work like making sure that the content
are being made as were planned is also a part of our job
Q. What are the characteristics of virtual content planning?
Let me begin with the biggest difference compared to other content planning works
I think I can narrow it down to three different points
And what I think to be the most important among them is
that in the case of virtual content planning, you need to have a clear understanding of the technology
For example, how much are we able to realize with the available technology as of now?
And what strengths are there if we are to use virtual production?
And what are the weaknesses?
When a creative idea is realized based on such prior knowledge
I believe that even more special and interesting ideas can be created
Let me take some examples
The new Avatar movie has fascinated many people
And realizing the object 'water' in a virtual environment
is a very hard task and it also costs a lot of time and money
If the producer has the prior knowledge about this
when one needs to create a visual content involving water
they can actively think about questions such as
'Is water absolutely necessary?' or 'are there any alternatives?'
And based on this, it becomes possible to create more effective content within the given budget and time
In addition, let's consider the strengths
Compared to shooting in real environments,
virtual environment is advantageous in that control over physical conditions are guaranteed
And when one designs a plan with these in mind
much more interesting ideas could arise
Let me take another example for this
For example, let's say we're shooting a scene; we film this way
And if we need the side view, then the camera would physically move to the side
But if this is to be a virtual environment
we can keep the camera static and turn the background by 90 degrees; it's an easy way to show the side
These things can also be taken into consideration
So in a recent virtual production, like a car driving scene
the car wouldn't actually move
but it is through the background that we can create dynamic scenes
And that's an example of a good use of technological advantage of virtual production
And the second thing needed in planning for a virtual content is
that we must have an idea that maximizes
the unique part of the content that was impossible before
As I've already told you,
There's always a need for a clear reason to why we have to film it in a virtual environment instead of in a real environment
Simply moving content that can be produced in a real environment into a virtual one is
not that beneficial when you think of it from the consumer's perspective
Also, filming virtually can cost more than filming in real environment
And as for quality, the one created in a virtual environment could be incompetent compared to the real one
Of course with the recent and extended period of the pandemic
various kinds of contact-free contents were loved by many people, like online concerts
Come to think of it, in this case, we simply copied and moved what was offline to online
and we discovered that this kind of situation was not very welcomed by consumers
So every time we come up with a virtual production idea
we contemplate on how to provide new experiences that previous content could not
A lot of ideas regarding creating parts that differentiate this content from others are already discussed from the planning stage
The last thing I want to say is
This part might be relatable to those
who have experience in this field of creating video content,
and it is that most work doesn't have a reference
When actually creating various video content
there are already tons of good examples
and these things directly or indirectly influence the creativity of the video content
Virtual production is still in its very early stage
so there are not many references
So in a lot of the cases, we have projects of taking unprecedented ideas and projecting them onto a screen
From a creator's point of view, it's a great opportunity to express my imagination to the fullest
but from a planner's point of view, it can be an obstacle that gets in the way of making decisions
So when proceeding with a new project that doesn't have a reference much more thought needs to be put in to
planning for the project to happen and to successfully realize those ideas without risk
And compared to general content, that these aspects and guides have to be much more thought out
can be a characteristic of virtual content planning
Q. What is something that differentiates GIANTSTEP's virtual production planning team from others?
About the differentiation point GIANTSTEP has, I would like to say that
So far, I think virtual production has a very high technical barrier to entry
so most virtual production companies work based on technical solutions
and when focused too much on technical solutions
the soft power, which means content solution, can be relatively weakened in terms of planning ability
So if you look at recent cases, there are a lot of virtual studios that don't have a separate planning organization at all
On the contrary, GIANTSTEP in fact had the VFX studio, a representative studio of our country
in which many commercial advertisement videos were created all around the world before Virtual Production
We already have some creative skills that were accumulated by producing representative commercial videos in Korea
So when creating content based on virtual production, being technical quality is of course important
but we also keep in mind that the quality of the creative idea that goes in here is also very important
That's why, when we started R&D on virtual productions 4 or 5 years ago
we had a separate planning organization internally
and ever since have been trying to continuously make ideas suitable for virtual production
Therefore, our headquarters, which is in charge of that task by working on various planning tasks specialized in virtual production
has the advantage of being able to come up with specialized ideas and related experience
Q. Which project best demonstrates the competence of planning work?
We've been through so many projects
One of them is an unboxing project for a famous brand
and we've also done a lot of projects with K-POP idols, such as virtual concerts
I think the directors and managers of other production teams will introduce these big and fancy cases later on
For me, a really interesting work experience as the content planning manager
is when we collaborated with a K-POP girl group, called 'woo!ah!' to create content for TikTok
'woo!ah!' is a group that is very active on TikTok
and have very bubbly and energetic charisma
So this project began with the idea of combining their fun and weird imaginations into content
And that led us to try out those things that I've already mentioned, which were impossible before
I came up with a lot of ideas like that and realized them into various content
For instance, there was content about sending the members to different places of the world
When you use a green screen as the background of your shooting set, it turns out transparent in the result
We used this technique by using green cloaks to direct scenes as if they wearing the Invisibility Cloak from < Harry Potter >
Because we basically tried out various things that don't really exist in the real world
this is a memorable experience for me, considering that it proves the pros of virtual content compared to traditional content
This content was released on TikTok
As you guys know, TikTok users are relatively young
and is mostly used by Gen Z
Therefore, this type trendy styles could truly catch their eyes on TikTok
I personally think that regardless of the size of a project
There should be more ideas and projects that can present the fun sides of virtual production in the future
The project we did with 'woo!ah!' did not require high costs
and neither did it require the highest level of technology
I just wanted to talk about it as I thought it was some fun content in the planning manager's perspective
From now on, let me elaborate on what it means to add some flavor to virtual content as a content planner
As I said before, we used the Chroma key for the Invisibility Cloak effect
But this technique is actually a common error happening in virtual production
When you make virtual content using a green screen
And use an object or clothing in the same color as the background screen
it turns out as an error in the final result
In the result, that part looks empty, which makes it a rule of thumb to avoid
From a content planning manager's point of view, on the other hand
It seemed highly interesting to deliberately make the error happen in the content
'Okay, that person's body seems to be empty when wearing a green clothing.'
'Couldn't we turn that into something creative?'
This is the idea that content planning managers would normally keep in mind in everyday life
Especailly, the whole point of the project with 'woo!ah!' was trying something outside the box
That's the reason we used the error to turn it into a brilliant outcome
We also made content of riding on a swing in the sky
In cases of other content-making
We would have brought in an installation in the studio and hung it on the ceiling or something
but we didn't have the opportunity to test out these things
Instead, we thought about taking the idea into realization
and making it look like the swing is hung in the middle of the sky
We were able to try out these different creative ideas
and therefore, it was a really memorable project for me
Some keynote messages I can deliver from this project are
maintaining the quality of the content is the tech people's responsibility
But when it comes to appealing the final result to viewers
such as the error example I introduced
or it can also be some random feature of virtual production found by coincidence
When we try to deliver these appeals to viewers
It's important to keep contemplating on how to make these things more attractive
These things can be used later as a differentiation point in ideas during planning
that can be developed with further details
Q. What are some virtues that virtual production planning coordinators must possess?
What I consider the most important when planning
as it is with other productions, virtual productions are also
complete only when it is delivered to the consumer
I think the most important thing is to never forget that this is content for the consumer
As more content or projects that include a lot of new technology get created
since we focus mostly on the technical perfection,
there might be a tendency to forget about the consumer
There is a very high chance you might fall into such error
It’s not about boasting how great our technology is
that we’re so good at making flashy things
It’s not about showing off novel technology
What’s most important is making
content that appeals to the consumers
That should always be on the back of our minds
To remain focused
I think is what is most important
when it comes to planning and coordinating virtual productions
As a result, virtual production coordinators
have to immediately react to consumer trends,
continually explore new trends,
and need to have the passion for understand such trends
On the other hand, you must objectively look
from the perspective of the consumer and think 'is this content appealing?'
'does this effectively reflect what we’re trying to convey?'
So the ability to objectively view
this from within the project
is the role of the coordinator
Q. What could be the goal of a virtual production coordinator?
The goal of the coordinator is wanting to create our own content
So we have completed various projects for many years and
based on these capacities, our goal for GIANTSTEP is to
be able to make unique content
only we can do
Therefore virtual production is not simply a cost effective solution
or a new solution to amaze with
things that don’t exist in real life
Rather than such a one-dimensional viewpoint
using the virtual production environment to its highest potential
to create appealing content
I think this would allow for the creation
of a new and unprecedented program format
Furthermore, these won’t be one-off content but
rather something that can be made into a brand
As a coordinator this would be my internal goal
This is also something our company is
taking into account for the future
Q. Are there any requirements to become a virtual production coordinator?
When I said I was planning a content
If you think of it as your major
majoring media studies, which is related to broadcasting contents
or majoring something related to advertisement marketing
would be helpful
But when working in real life
Some knowledge and skills in a field related to those majors
can be acquired through work
But your basic personality
or some kind of passion
is a little bit more important
So making a variety of content means
delivering various content to consumers in the end
Therefore you should understand the consumers who would like those content
and try to learn and understand
various trends
These efforts will be needed
In that point of view,
when I was young
I was told 'Don't chase two hares at once'
but unlike that
having a shallow and broad interest
about what people like
and having curiosity
are what I believe to be more important
Q. How do you foresee the future of metaverse and virtual studio as a planner?
I think
Metaverse and virtual studio is still
in the very early stages of the market
Actually, to make a lot of fun contents
based on the virtual studio
various creators and artist
in this society
should use this tool actively as they want
and make diverse content
It's not easy for many people to approach it yet
because of technological limitations
And from that perspective
I think the demand for planners who can connect these creators
with virtual studios will continue to increase
So if these connections continue to grow
I think productions using virtual studio
will actively be created in the future as well
Everytime I get this question
I come up with an easy example
Let's take the film industry as an example
When we think about making movies beforehand
it was about how to shoot, how to use the lighting and how to direct
There was a traditional director who was good at these things
But after computer graphics and CG appeared
how much more imagination we can exercise with this CG technology
became important
So these days, practically all the movies
use computer graphics or CGIs
Similar to that, one day, virtual production
will be not something special and new anymore
I think it will become an essential element
used in the production process of all content
and be utilized has a creative tool
Q. What is the method of creating a good plan for productioin?
To make a good plan
I usually always tell
my teammates to just work hard
As I mentioned earlier, what we try to do
is make the viewers have fun in the end
So we wonder what young people like nowadays
And content these days is not the same as before
Before when something was on TV, most people across the country
would have watched this content
These days there are people that watch media through TikTok
and people who use streaming services
and there's a trot(Korean music genre) song program that the elderly watch
So the understanding of the people who watch these contents
became very important
My personal preferences are important
but when there is something I used to dislike but others like,
it is important to pay attention and be interested in thoughts like
'Why do they like those content?'
'What kind of charm do those people feel in that?'
The ability to express your interests in a variety of ways
is really important
For example, I'm not in that generation
but my parents recently
have been watching these trot(Korean music genre) shows
and they are sure I would definitely be watching them as well
They asked me "Did you watch it last week?"
But that's not something I'm interested in
and honestly I don't prefer it
But if we were to make
a virtual production for those people
Of course we need to find out why they like this show
and what they need in that show
and understand thoroughly
in order to make more effective content
Therefore, even if I'm not intrigued,
it's necessary to be interested in
and examine the exact points
that make consumers choose one over the other
in various fields
Is what I think
Q. A production manager is ____
The production manager of virtual production is
a messenger who connects people and technology
That's my answer
I think I'm repeating myself with this
However fancy the technology is
if the consumers go
'This is boring'
Then I consider that content as meaningless
For me, virtual production
Holds a lot of potential
It's a great technology that can
create something unprecedented
But the role of the production manager is to make this technology look and feel fascinating
for the consumers
So for consumers,
very complicated technology-related things
that are hard to grasp
should feel closer and tangible
And providing content that can show this
is what I consider that as the most important job of a production manager
So I think the production manager should be this messenger
Who can connect this new technology to the consumers
The topic of this lecture is
Virtual production and producers
Nowadays it's much more common but
around 2, 3 years ago
people thought 'Is it really worth the money to test this?'
Samsung and LG in Korea, and other brands in other countries
all went through the test
We actually rented the demo version
and tested for months per each device
and we were able to get various result values
Let me break it down for you
The one that connects the real and the virtual
This bridge that enables one to travel across
is what virtual production means to us
Q. Is your major important? Your major does matter a lot
Those of you who have been enduring and hanging around to watch this interview
also have the talent to be a producer