Komixx Entertainment’s ITCH Series 2, the second instalment of a 10-part series commissioned by ABC Australia and sold internationally to BYUtv (US), CBBC (UK) and TVNZ, is using the latest LED technology during shooting at the ABC studios in East Perth, Western Australia.
Komixx has secured the services of Perth-based visual effects studio Last Pixel to provide VFX and LED screen technology services for simulated car travel and background animation content on giant studio sets.
“This is a first in Australian television production, perhaps even a first in children’s broadcast content,” says producer Amanda Morrison, head of global production and managing director of Komixx Entertainment, Australia.
“ITCH is the first WA production to start filming since Covid, and the use of this technology has enabled us to contain the production, by bringing some of the locations to us in a studio environment. The technology presents endless possibilities – we can literally bring the world to Perth,” she said.
Last Pixel has collaborated with global live events company Mediatec to build and run the 22 x 4 metre wall comprising 144 panels and 6.4 million individually programmable LEDs, where real-time virtual environments and sets can be filmed behind the actors. This removes the need for green screen technology, capturing everything in camera at a high resolution.
“It’s like post-production, during production,” says Dave McDonnell from Last Pixel. “The use of LED technology used in this production is a modern hi-tech spin on the old Hollywood trick of rear projection. Powered by game technology using the Unreal Engine from Epic Games – the same people behind Fortnite – the tools and techniques have more recently been showcased on productions such as Disney’s Mandalorian.”
Trackers placed around the LED volume-capture the movement of the camera and transfer that to several high-powered computers. From there, the real-time engine updates to render the virtual world from the camera and then display it on the LEDs. From the camera’s perspective it’s a seamless effect, extending the world well beyond the boundaries of the physical LED screen.
The ITCH Series 2 production is a nine-week shoot in Western Australia, filming in the Great Southern (Albany), Peel region and locations around Perth, in addition to amazingly detailed sets that have been built at the ABC Studios.
ITCH Series One is an international hit currently screening in US on BYUtv and CBBC in the UK, in NZ.
