How universities are embracing new technology for film and TV courses

Since December 2022 the RedShark team has been working closely with ASUS ProArt to see how some of Europe’s leading specialist Filmmaking and Computer Game Development Universities have adapted to new technology tools like Unreal Engine and techniques like virtual production to equip their students for a career in an industry that has never relied on technology more than today.

We traveled to Breda (NL), Stockholm (Swe), Venice (IT), Madrid (SP), London (UK) and Buckinghamshire (UK) speaking to heads of school, course leaders, lecturers, and of course students, to see what technology trends matter to them and why. We learned that color is absolutely key right now. HDR workflows are becoming the norm and students want to be able to see what their project is going to look like as early in the process as possible.

With virtual production workflows being able to match the LED volume’s color pipeline with the display used on set and in post-production is a huge advantage in post-production and probably the single area our schools saw the largest opportunity. ASUS ProArt monitors all have advanced color science that is Calman-verified allowing users to see the same picture at different stages of the production process. A big win.

The same goes for refresh rates, 120p is becoming the norm in gaming (from 60p), so a 120hz monitor allows students to work at the frame rates gamers demand. This is also relevant in virtual production, in fact, the game development technology’s encroachment into film and TV is increasing by the day. Cost also plays a big part here, and knowing there is a selection of affordable display options allows schools to invest in scale in professional standard monitors. Price is no longer the leading barrier to acquiring 4K/ HDR displays for students.

The other area was of course computing power and this is where the NVidia RTX4090 graphics cards really help. Reduced rendering time helps students on their projects, but also schools by allowing more students to work on more projects. Especially when using powerful software like Unity or Unreal Engine. The schools we worked with were using powerful workstations powered by ASUS ProArt Motherboard that had phenomenal cooling capabilities, allowing them to be used for longer and on more demanding projects.

We are going to do a deeper dive into these areas, not just from the POV of schools using new hardware to solve new problems, but also on our side what it was like working with these universities to create stories with video on campus using the sort of skills and techniques the students are learning. I would like to thank the staff and students of all these Universities for their time, support, and positive energy during this program. It was hugely appreciated and we learned a lot on the way ourselves.

Until we are able to share a deeper, BTS dive into this programme, check out a short piece we put together connecting the various stories into one.