Extended Reality (XR) offers a multitude of opportunities for filmmakers and storytelling. Virtual Production, as one of XR’s manifestations, has the potential to minimise production costs and make film production more sustainable while bringing a maximum of creativity (back) to the film set. Virtual and Augmented Reality tools, such as the DIGITAL LOCATIONS demonstrator developed by Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg’s Animationsinstitut in collaboration with Film Commission Region Stuttgart, allow for efficient pre-visualisation, collaboration and planning. At the same time, XR technologies enable the exploration of new immersive narrative structures and experiences. These constitute a major focus for Filmakademie’s current research efforts, supported by the two EU-funded projects EMIL and MAX-R. 

MAX-R is an Innovation Action primarily focused on developing tools and pipelines for XR with significant open-source contributions. This includes a novel animation workflow for 3D character animation, utilising Artificial Intelligence with traceable training data and the ultimate goal of empowering animation artists within their traditional workflows. 

EMIL, the European Media and Immersion Lab, is a combination of physical and virtual lab supporting XR innovation. The project conducted two open calls for a variety of disciplines, allocating between 250.000 EUR and 500.000 EUR per project, with a total budget for third-party funding of 5,6 million EUR. Among other exciting XR projects from Europe CARBON DREAM$ LAND by the Ludwigsburg-based company Pixelcloud was funded.

Within EMIL, Filmakademie also developed its own narrative XR project, FATE OF THE MINOTAUR, where players descend into the labyrinth of King Minos and must confront the Minotaur to escape. This Location-Based Experience can be played in three different scale options: as a linear VR film, for up to four players as an interactive stationary experience or free-roaming in an 8×8 meter space.
For several years, the R&D department of the Filmakademie has been dedicated to exploring and implementing environmentally sustainable practices, working on various projects and research initiatives aimed at making production processes more sustainable – not only on our campus but throughout the industry.