ICON™ VP+ in Action at Virtual Production LED Volume

The next generation of Blizzard Lighting’s IRiS® ICON™ LED video series has been center stage at their partner facility in Los Angeles, engaging in multiple virtual production projects from photography & reshoots for TV/film and commercial ads, to educational programs and VP integration services.

Designed specifically for cinema, the ICON™ VP+ panel makes up the J-shaped LED volume (560 total panels) which includes custom truss, camera tracking and Unreal™ servers, among other on-screen technologies to meet the specific needs of clients.

One such need was the “Kiss the Girl” music/dance video collaboration between Dancing With The Stars lead Derek Hough & Hayley Erbert, which was being directed by cinematographer, Emmy-Award winning director, and founder of Dreams Factory Sunny Zhao. 

“I really liked working in that volume,” said Zhao. “The ICON VP+ with a pixel pitch of 2.6mm worked really well. The crazy thing…is the brightness…once you add smoke and haze, it sometimes minimizes the screen…that was concern number one for me. But it wasn’t a problem with VP+ panels; in reality, we didn’t even have the brightness all the way up (55%, 60% at most). It was not even close to what it’s capable of.”

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The VP+ panel features a narrow 2.6mm pixel pitch, black body LEDs, rapid refresh rate of 7,680Hz with 24+ bit color depth, 1,000 NIT brightness, and a 1/8 scan rate to deliver the most color accurate, high-resolution images necessary for film. This particular volume is fitted with NovaStar® processing, while the VP series is customizable for Brompton technology. Other key features include blackout gaskets, corner protectors, ground support locks, and the industry’s only 7-year warranty.

The LED volume is operated under ICON Virtual, LLC (a separate entity formed by Blizzard Lighting) and managed by visual effects industry leaders VFX Technologies. Other partners include NovaStar, RED™ cameras, and Vicon motion capture.

“If you need high quality shoots for XR and virtual production, this is the panel,” says CEO of VFX Technologies Sarote Tabcum. “It comes down to everything like gold traces, integrated circuits, the chips we use for processing scan rates, the blacks are really good, etc.” Tabcum continues, “We also have LED lighting controlled by our systems that is used for filming so everything is tied together…the goal is to offer a complete package made for cinematic or content media usage.”

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