Vu Technologies Corp.’s biggest LED volume used for film production will be ready for showtime in Orlando in the coming months.
Tampa-based Vu aims to begin installation in June, which would put the company on track to open its Orlando studio this summer, co-founder and CEO Tim Moore told Orlando Inno. The 32,000-square-foot studio that’ll open in Chapman/Leonard Studio Equipment Inc.’s Orlando sound stage was announced in March.
The opening in Orlando will equip the region with a state-of-the-art virtual production studio that can secure more film, TV and commercial production work in the region.
The future of an industry
Vu's studios feature volumes, fully enclosed spaces where motion capture and real-time compositing take place so virtual environments for TV and film can be produced easily on camera. The technology, used in the popular Star Wars TV show "The Mandalorian," includes large LED walls used to generate virtual backgrounds as a replacement to traditional green screens.
This type of production technology currently exists in the Orlando area. For example, Airlot 21 is operated on Sound Stage 21 in the Universal Studios Florida backlot.
Plus, Full Sail University in March opened a $3 million virtual production studio with a 40-foot tall LED wall on its Winter Park campus. The technology is "where the industry is headed," Full Sail Education Director of Visual Arts Rick Ramsey previously said.
Vu’s expansion to Orlando was fueled by a $17 million seed investment round the company announced in March. Waterfall Ventures Investments, managed by Orlando Tech Council Chair Charlie Lewis, brought 30 Orlando-area angel investors into the round, contributing $1.7 million.
Vu also operates studios in Tampa and Nashville, and it’s opening an additional studio in Las Vegas.
The metaverse connection
Meanwhile, Vu will arrive in Orlando as the region begins to champion itself, along with Miami, as the U.S. hub for metaverse technologies.
In fact, Vu’s expansion to Orlando is one of the recent local developments creating a perfect storm of opportunities for Central Florida to cement itself as the leader in the extended reality, gaming and simulation technologies that power the metaverse, Lewis told Orlando Inno. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so perfectly aligned.”
Likewise, Moore said the region’s abundance of talent and the presence of immersive entertainment giants like The Walt Disney Co. have it poised to capitalize on the emerging metaverse. “Orlando has all the obvious infrastructure and plumbing you’d want.”
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