Production Title: Masters of the Air
Location: Aylesbury Studios, UK
Studio: Apple TV+
Production Budget: 100 Million+
Delivery Partners: Lux Machina
Our Service Delivery: MARS On Set
Date Delivered: 2021

Project Background
In 2023, Apple TV+  released its much anticipated Masters of the Air - the third WWII-based epic series following the success of Band of Brothers (2001) and The Pacific (2010), produced by Steven Spielberg (Amblin Television) and Tom Hanks (Playtone). 

What We Did
In partnership with the team from Lux Machina, the team from our virtual production brand  MARS team managed and operated multiple bespoke LED Volumes set up at Aylesbury Studios, which were often being utilised simultaneously. Full scale replicas of aircraft cockpits were set up within the LED Volumes, with a customised suite of Unreal Engine tools enabling the actors to engage in frighteningly realistic dogfight sequences and action scenes.
Lux Machina and the MARS team of software developers worked within a custom version of Unreal Engine building 50+ proprietary virtual production tools specifically for challenges faced on the show.  

“This was needed to provide more seamless integration of a traditional production into a virtual production,” says Cameron Bishop, MARS’ lead Unreal Operator, who was instrumental in some of the tool development.  These included real-time ‘flack-triggering’. Bishop elaborates, “As an example of being agile to director needs, it became clear we needed a real-time ‘flack-triggering’ solution. We developed a tool that allowed us to simulate explosions on the LED volume with the press of a button. This provided instant feedback to the director, and in turn helped the actors believe the danger their characters were in.” 

These included a light card tool to enable lighting operators to interface with light cards in Unreal, controlling size, shape, opacity and colour temperature. Gaffers were also able to control a ‘programmable sun’ with historically accurate positioning. On the second volume a series of interactive lighting machines were dedicated to driving the pixel-mapped SkyPanels.

Masters of the Air is a great showcase of our level of experience in Virtual Production and the capabilities of the MARS team that are available not only within our MARS Volume permanent facility, but to install and operate any bespoke pop-up Volume on a client soundstage.

The Results
Associate VFX producer Will Reece says VP is a holistic way of approaching production. “It’s not a tag onto VFX or any other department. It’s how you structure your production, and that needs to go from the top to the bottom for it to ultimately be as successful as possible,” he says. “Everyone in the crew has to buy into that. We were so fortunate to have a strong presence from Lux Machina Consulting on the ground who spearheaded support and ongoing education during production to help us think about or approach things differently.” 

VP producer Kyle Olson says, “From the dynamic volumes on our UK soundstages to the intricate cockpit and fuselage sets, every element was designed to ensure historical accuracy and interactive realism. This project was not just a technological triumph but a testament to the power of collaborative storytelling.” 

“It was a real pleasure to strengthen and support this production and be part of the biggest VP crew either company has worked on” comments Rowan Pitts, founder of MARS Volume. “The mutual respect that the teams displayed and desire to overcome challenges with agility and collaboration no doubt forged the success on set.” 

Read more:

British Cinematographer: 
https://britishcinematographer.co.uk/sponsored-feature-lux-machina-mars-volume-and-sony/