Brompton enables sustainable virtual production for Impossible Objects

Based in Los Angeles, Impossible Objects is a creative studio and world-building lab combining artists and engineers, specialising in virtual production for both commercial projects and original IP.

Founded by Joe Sill and Jerad Anderson, Impossible Objects is working to define the future of film and entertainment by embracing real-time technology to blend the physical and digital worlds. The company has established key relationships and partnerships across film, gaming, and technology, and has built innovative projects and workflows with a growing list of clients including Blizzard, Google Play, Western Digital, Honda, and Toyota.

Having worked with numerous clients in a variety of different settings, Impossible Objects’ preferred LED stage partner is NantStudios – a leading service provider of cutting-edge Virtual Production and Visual Effects stages. NantStudios’ 24,000 square foot LED stage, powered by Unreal Engine, in El Segundo, California houses some of the most advanced and established technology in the industry, including Brompton’s Tessera SX40 LED processors, ROE Visual’s Black Pearl BP2 LED panels, and Carbon CB3 LED panels.

Impossible Objects has filmed several projects at NantStudios recently, including an impressive automotive demo film for the Polestar 2 electric vehicle, which was created to convey the potential of virtual production to automotive marketers. A driver heads out of town, taking her Polestar 2 through the city and into the distant mountains, with the light and reflections changing throughout to match the surrounding environment and time of day. All of the environments were created ahead of time in Unreal Engine, and shot on the NantStudios volume, with Brompton’s processors helping to maximise the performance from the LED panels.

“With each production at NantStudios, we can rely on their experienced team and the outstanding visual performance enabled by Brompton processing to deliver exemplary results,” shared Joe Sill, founder and director at Impossible Objects. “Especially for automotive projects, we’re aiming to achieve a very seamless photoreal look, and Brompton helps us deliver that. With the Polestar shoot, we came in with our environments, and with Brompton’s Dynamic Calibration technology and the 3D LUT feature, we were able to see our footage in the camera exactly as we had built it in Unreal Engine. We were very happy with those results.”

Luc Delamare, Impossible Objects’ head of technology and virtual production supervisor, added: “Brompton’s Extended Bit Depth capabilities were also a huge benefit on the Polestar project, as we had a lot of ambient light and reflections that all needed to be accurate. The added precision you get with Extended Bit Depth, especially on the low-end brightness levels, makes a significant difference compared to what we’ve seen previously.”

The Polestar project was a success, enabling everyone involved in the production to understand both the creative and sustainability impacts of virtual production. The ability to film multiple environments all from the same set makes production much more streamlined and efficient, while reducing the financial and environmental costs of travel.

“What we were able to achieve on this project, thanks to virtual production innovations, has really energised the automotive advertisers,” noted Sill. “It has opened up a whole new world of creative possibilities, while also achieving greater sustainability in the production process – something that’s particularly important to electric vehicle makers like Polestar.”