Meet Synapse: Virtual Production for Filmmakers, by Filmmakers

The production industry is no stranger to revolution. Excitement over new technology is a familiar feeling to anyone connected to the filmmaking world, and the medium’s growth has always been tied to tech advancements. From the first use of colour in a moving image to simulating a car journey with a moving backdrop, filmmakers have forever found ways to trick the human eye into immersion. And it’s in that centuries-long story of innovation that virtual production has begun another new chapter. 

But with each and every advancement comes another cycle of hype. And, sometimes, the excitement doesn’t quite match up to the promise. After all, we’re still not flocking to watch the latest blockbusters in VR - at least not yet, anyway. So it’s important to ground these conversations in genuine expertise, and to keep our feet on the ground without being overly cynical. And that’s precisely why Synapse VP - the virtual production and immersive entertainment collective comprised of filmmakers and award-winning industry leaders - has become such a key player at this new intersection between film craft and technology. 

Because when it comes to virtual production technology, the Synapse team knows what they’re talking about. In fact, that’s something of an understatement. Combining access to the latest tech with best-in-class filmmaking expertise, theirs is a voice which balances the excitement of new toys with the know-how required to use them effectively. It’s hard to overstate the depth of creative and filmic experience that can be found across Synapse. 

The collective’s leadership team includes CEO Justin Diener, who has brought to life feature films and branded content for the likes of Google, Pepsi, and Universal. CCO Rich Lee draws on his experience supervising previz for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘Minority Report’, as well as music videos for Billie Eilish and Rihanna. Chief Innovation Officer Christopher Probst is the former technical editor of American Cinematographer magazine, and has credits including David Fincher’s Netflix series ‘Mindhunter’ and commercials for Nike, Samsung, and Google. COO Aaron Gordon has won awards spearheading projects for Amazon, and partnered with the Rochester Institute of Technology to create one of the first Virtual Production curriculums in the US. CRO Duke DuQuesnay has overseen visual effects shoots for ‘The Avengers’ and ‘Stranger Things’. And CTO Geoff Knight is a lighting director and technician who has worked his magic on events at Madison Square Garden and The Sphere in Las Vegas, and has crafted projects for the likes of Disney, Nintendo, Cirque du Soleil, and Epic Games. 

In summary, then, it’s difficult to imagine a more well-rounded or deeper array of filmmaking and entertainment experience than Synapse’s. And that extensive knowledge is built into the studio by design, giving them a totally complete and fully-rounded virtual production offering, as opposed to just one specific piece of tech. 

“When we first came to put this collective together, we were truly looking for specialties in every single area which culminates in virtual production”, says Aaron. “Our essential idea was, rather than offering one piece of a puzzle, we could create an entire virtual production ecosystem”. 

If that sounds ambitious, it was - but the Synapse team are living up to that vision. From consulting and procurement to their flagship LED volume stage, asset creation and even post production services, this is a full suite of services with expertise in each area. Whilst that desire to provide an all-encompassing virtual production offering arose in part because the team wanted to avoid the ‘disjointed’ feeling of jumping from vendor to vendor, there was also a deeper logic at play. 

“When a vendor is focused on servicing one specific thing and they don’t have the experience of other parts of the process - including the natural shorthand of communicating with them, it creates problems”, notes Justin. “You get pain points related to comms, costs, and efficiencies. An intrinsic understanding of the end-to-end production process is complicated. You can’t just build it overnight. But we do have that experience in-house and that’s our secret sauce, so to speak”. 

That explanation is one that helps make sense of the name ‘Synapse’. The junctions between nerve cells in our brains, synapses are the tiny gaps over which our impulses jump faster than the blink of an eye. That level of natural efficiency - of everything in its right place and working in tandem as part of a greater whole - is a fairly apt parallel for the work that Synapse VP aims to do in the virtual production space. It’s complex but, with expertise, it works magnificently. 

And the work which has come out of Synapse to date is making good on that lofty ambition. Take their work for the mobile game Raid: Shadow Legends - starring WWE wrestler Ronda Rousey - as an example. “On that job, we needed to shoot in four different locations”, explains Chris. “Which would have been impossible in one day, especially given that the celebrity talent only had 10 hours of availability. So really, there was no way it could have been done without the LED volumes”. 

Crucially, this team of filmmakers maintain a genuine passion for their craft. And, as a result, they’re keen to stress that virtual production is not the be-all and end-all of the modern filmmaking process, no matter how advanced the technology might be. 

“Virtual production is not a silver bullet solution, nor is it our instinctive response to every filmmaking challenge”, says Rich. “If you really boil it down, virtual production is not that different to production in a traditional sense. You want to bring an idea to reality, and work with the tools available to do so in the best way. That’s always been the craft of filmmaking, and it always will be”. 

Thanks to that amazing level of expertise shared across the team, they’re able to ask not just what’s possible with the new tech but also - just as importantly - what’s effective. And, in some instances, that will result in advising prospective clients not to use virtual production elements if they aren’t the right fit for the task. 

“One thing we absolutely don’t want is for a DP to roll up to our set one day, get through a job, and then think ‘well that was kinda cool but I wasn’t able to do everything I really wanted’”, says Duke. “So we’re always open, honest, and realistic about what’s possible. Very often, we will have a solution available in-house. But sometimes we don’t, and we owe it to the work - not to mention the reputation of virtual production as a whole - to be up-front when that is the case”. 

Again, the connective tissue of Synapse is that love and appreciation of film craft - one that’s grounded in the decades of experience shared by the team behind it all. It means that when the tech does shine, it really shines. 

“One job that I keep coming back to is our work with BMW”, says Aaron. “There’s a particular shot where we see a car driving along this extremely picturesque road that we completed totally in-engine and in real-time. It probably would have taken weeks to render that in the required detail using previous 3D animation pipelines”. 

In that example, you get an instructive sense of Synapse’s realistic, positive vision for the role virtual production is set to play in the wider industry. As Justin puts it, “virtual production isn’t going to change anything about the fundamental craft of film. It’s a tool which is enabling more creativity”. 

So, as with any new tool, it pays to hear from the experts. “Storytelling is storytelling. The through-line is that you have an idea, and you need to figure out how to visualise it”, says Chris. “It’s absolutely a tool, but it’s a powerful one”. 

There’s a refreshing air of honesty in the way that the Synapse founders talk about their offering. It’s an atmosphere in which the breathless hyperbole sometimes associated with virtual production gives way to a reasoned, positive, and evidence-based articulation of the technology’s impact. And that’s precisely why we’re so interested to see what might come next from the collective.