SK Telecom opens VFX studio for media content production

SK Telecom, a top mobile carrier in South Korea, opened a visual effects (VFX) studio to strengthen its content production capability and expand partnerships with global media companies. The studio features two LED wall stages that can create realistic graphics to remove the need for location shooting.

VFX is the process by which imagery is created or manipulated outside the context of a live-action shot in filmmaking and video production. The integration of live-action footage and computer CG elements to create realistic imagery is called VFX.

Located in the Korean version of Silicon Valley in Pangyo in a southern satellite city of Seoul, SK Telecom (SKT) said that the studio named “Tech-driven Entertainment for Asian Movement (TEAM)” provides an optimal environment for content production via two different LED wall stages — Volume Stage and XR Stage.

Volume Stage can be used for the production of entertainment content including soap operas, advertisements and music videos, while XR Stage can be used for content with indoor backgrounds such as live commerce content and live streaming for events like web seminars and conferences.

“Through the application of our fixed and mobile telecommunication, AI and cloud technologies, we expect the TEAM studio to contribute to the growth of the media content industry,” SKT’s global media support office head Kim Hyuk said in a statement on June 21.

Building on its leading fixed and mobile network infrastructure, SKT aims to create a global content ecosystem by promoting collaboration between TEAM and other global studios.

With the spread of virtual content and increasing customer expectations, the role of VFX-based virtual studios is becoming more important, SKT said, adding that virtual production utilizing LED walls is growing rapidly in the global media industry, being increasingly used in Hollywood movies.

Connectivity that enables the sharing of resources and capabilities between content production studios will become key to success in the future global media market, SKT said. Two studios located far from each other can access the cloud to display the same background on their LED walls and shoot actors in each studio in real time to create scenes that look as if they are acting together in the same place.

SKT said it would form a consortium with major studios specialized in LED walls and suggest a new paradigm in content production through the sharing of infrastructure and resources among participating studios. Aju Business Daily