The Project

Indie doesn’t have to mean small; just ask Alden Peters.

For years, Alden has been using virtual production techniques to create ambitious sci-fi projects on indie budgets. Recently, he set out to test Gaussian splat productions with a new challenge: shoot four locations around the world, in a single day, without leaving Los Angeles.

If it worked, it would prove that an indie crew can deliver “global” shots without the expense.

The results speak for themselves.

The Workflow

Alden began his previs in Spark, creating virtual shots guided by the same detailed Megascapes environments that would be used on the shoots. The resulting shot list not only helped Alden refine his thinking, but provided the crew with a clear blueprint for production.

On shoot days, the team paired Jetset with a Blackmagic camera, compositing actors into Megascapes scans of a Nevada desert, London street, and Toronto alley, with the help of an iPad and a portable green screen. With unchecked mobility, the team could even use the elements to their advantage, including matching natural sunlight to the lighting baked into the splats. This not only made their comps look more realistic, but the lighting feel more cohesive.

During post, Alden relit the splats in Unreal Engine using the Volinga plugin, before moving onto to nuanced tweaks in Nuke.

The Takeaway

Virtual production and Gaussian splats are starting to reshape the economics of location work, opening up visual possibilities that once required bigger budgets.

Today, a single person can scan locations, tap libraries, or use generative platforms to incorporate photorealistic environments into their planning and production process, radically changing what ends up on screen.

Alden’s tests are not only the proof, but the beginning. The walls are coming down.