BrandStar Studios is creating a next-generation film and television production facility in South Florida.
The company, a division of the marketing agency BrandStar, announced it made a "multimillion-dollar" investment in new technology to bring extended reality, augmented reality and mixed-reality capabilities to its 43,000-square-foot production studio in Pompano Beach. BrandStar declined to specify the exact investment amount.
The upgrade includes the implementation of Unreal Engine software, a 3D creation platform developed for video games that is now being adopted by the film and television industry.
The software enables BrandStar Studios to create all-encompassing virtual settings for its productions. A jungle scene? The program can create it. A desert background? They can make that, too.
“It allows us to create super high-end productions quickly, utilizing the same in-camera virtual environments that major studios are deploying to film their most technology-intensive programming," said BrandStar CEO Mark Alfieri. “We can basically put anyone, anywhere, in real-time."
BrandStar Studios hired a team of Unreal Engine CGI artists to develop photo-realistic virtual environments that can be used for movie and film sets, music videos and commercials. The studio currently produces shows that air on Lifetime Television, Bloomberg, Fox Business and more, including programs like The Balancing Act and Military Makeover with Montel.
BrandStar Studios' new features also include three motorized 27 foot by 10 foot LED ceilings; a fully equipped control room; Sony VENICE digital cameras; and a Mo-Sys VP Pro XR, a server system designed for virtual productions.
Alfieri said the new and improved BrandStar Studios is already attracting attention from West Coast companies.
“We have clients from California booking the studio for virtual productions," he said. "We have no doubt these advancements will be an extraordinary step forward for all of Florida’s production capabilities.”
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