Next Generation Car Process: 5 Advantages for Filmmakers

Where We’re Going, We Don’t Need Roads

At Lumostage, we’re always exploring new ways to push the creative and technical boundaries of what’s possible in virtual production. Our narrative short ROAD TRIP, which recently premiered at NAB, is a prime example. Why? Because not a single driving plate was shot on a real road.

Lumostage filmed ROAD TRIP using pre-rendered, spherical driving plates created by the brilliant team at Sim-Plates, a startup built by veteran virtual production and VFX artists to solve very real problems with virtual car process.

Limitations of Practical Driving Plates

Practical driving plates are amazing for establishing characters in a specific city. But as every filmmaker who has used practical plates knows, there are some big limitations. Bumpy roads, bad lighting, traffic, seams, and videos that “loop” right in the middle of an actor’s line delivery.

Sim-Plates are built to eliminate those pain points. To prove this, Lumostage team members Nessa Aref and Andy Brown shot-designed ROAD TRIP to demonstrate the incredible flexibility Sim-Plates can offer to Vancouver productions.

Five Game-Changers

1. Seamless

Sim-Plates are spherical, which means there is no rectangular driving plate limiting the frame of any shot. “Projecting Sim-Plates on the seamless LED curve at Lumostage really opened up the creative possibilities,” said ROAD TRIP director Nessa Aref. “We could actually photograph the world around our characters, instead of being locked into tight singles with traditional driving plates.”

 

2. Bigger Camera Moves

Traditional driving plates only give you a bit of room for camera moves before you shoot off of the plate. Sim-Plates provided cinematographer Andy Brown with much greater freedom for camera movement. “We could pan, dolly, even orbit the car without ever worrying about running out of frame. That freedom let us treat car scenes like real scenes—not just glorified inserts.”

 

3. Smoother Rides

With practical driving plates, even the tiniest problem becomes huge when projected on an LED volume. Bumps in the road? Stop-and-go traffic? A road that curves or goes up a hill? “All of those things look weird on the LED, and our clients always wish they could get rid of them,” said Nessa Aref. Because Sim-Plates are rendered entirely in VFX, the road is perfectly smooth. No bumps, no traffic, and no unexpected turns. (Unless you want them. See #5 below.)

 

4. No Cut Points

Traditional driving plates usually two minutes before jumping back to the start of the video file. If the background resets in the middle of an actor’s performance, that ruins the take, which can be frustrating for the cast and crew. “Our plates are built to loop seamlessly,” said Alex Pearce, Sim-Plates CEO. “You never see a cut point. The actor’s performance will never be hindered by what’s going on in the background.”

With Sim-Plates, actors can live in the moment—no interruptions, no technical distractions.

 

5. Completely Customizable

Want to change the color of the sky? Have more buildings or fewer trees? Make the car go faster or slower? With Sim-Plates, it’s all possible. “One thing we were excited to try was building a U-Turn into the plate,” said Andy Brown. “U-Turns are really challenging to film on a practical array. You need to close the street, get permits and police, and if the plate doesn’t look right you don’t get another chance. With Sim-Plates, we built the U-Turn like a VFX shot. They sent us a version, we sent them notes, they made adjustments, and we got exactly what we wanted.”

Next Generation Car Process

“We’re proud to be the first virtual production studio to make a film entirely using Sim-Plates,” said Lumostage president Daniel Hsia. “ROAD TRIP looks incredible and cinematic, and shows much this opens up the creative possibilities for driving scenes. The next generation of virtual car process is here.”

Whether you’re a filmmaker, DP, or studio exec, it’s time to rethink how car scenes are made. With Lumostage and Sim-Plates, the road ahead is smooth, customizable, and full of creative opportunity.

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