Virtual production studios are replacing green screens as world's largest opens in Melbourne

ABC Science / By technology reporter James Purtill

"Back in the early noughties, director Clayton Jacobson was one of many in the industry wondering if there was an alternative.

As it turned out, help was at hand. In fact, it was in the living room."

This month, a new kind of film studio was unveiled in Melbourne.

Called a virtual production stage, it's a type of facility that has been dubbed the next big thing in film and TV.

The new one at Docklands is the largest in the world. Imagine a wall of LED screens three storeys high, as long as a soccer field.

This bank of screens is connected to powerful computers driven by gaming software, able to create high-resolution animated backdrops that respond to the perspective of the camera.

Inside this space, you can appear to be essentially anywhere.

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