The Women Shaping the Future of Virtual Production: Emily Haldeman

Synapse is an end-to-end virtual production partner offering VP content creation, facility development, education, consulting, and stage rentals. Based in LA, and founded by five of the sharpest minds in the film industry, the studio has a wealth of talent behind the doors of its expansive studio space. 

Shining a light on the people behind the screens and responsible for the running of the studio, meet Emily Haldeman, virtual production supervisor at Synapse…

Emily’s career began in 3D animation, before she transitioned into gaming after a taste of Unreal Engine. Gaining experience across virtual reality, augmented reality and immersive installations, virtual production emerged as a natural career progression that was supported by an interest in emerging technology. 

An alumni of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), Emily was lecturing on AR/VR and virtual production when she met fellow RIT alum, CEO of Optic Sky and Synapse co-founder, Aaron Gordon. From there, she joined Optic Sky’s digital experience team and later transitioned to Synapse Virtual Production. 

As part of Synapse, Emily has overseen the hardware setup and optimisation for the build out of multiple virtual production volume stages, streamlined several custom software toolsets and workflows, and helped create Synapse’s ‘Eye in the Sky’ remote support system. As VP supervisor, her main responsibility is to ensure that the volume runs flawlessly throughout shoots, and the creative team is happy with the digital content produced.  

It’s an exciting period of growth for Synapse. Headquartered in LA, and with ambitions to expand across the US, Synapse is actively integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into its virtual production workflows and spearheading education around virtual production, taking a leading role in educating the next generation of creative technologists. Working on ambitious projects with big names and brands, 2024 has seen the studio used for the production of Eminem’s ‘Houdini’ music video, which has amassed over 127 million views to date, and recently took home awards for Best Visual Effects and Best Hip Hop video at the MTV Video Music Awards. 

“I’ve been working with the partners who formed Synapse for a few years now through various virtual production projects and I’ve really loved my time with them. The quality and experience of the Synapse team, as well as the incredible advancements in virtual production tech, really attracted me.” says Emily. “The rapid adoption of virtual production for film, TV, advertising, immersive experiences, and beyond is really exciting. All of the partners bring a unique perspective, skill set, and personality to the company, and that is pretty hard to find elsewhere. My main goal at Synapse is to do cool work, make sure we all have a good time in the process, and push the boundaries of what's possible in virtual production.”