Garden Studios turns driving shots into a reconfigurable LED “car rig”
UK-based Garden Studios has launched a new virtual production stage designed primarily for driving-shot work, supporting a wide range of vehicle types and aiming to reduce downtime and technical friction during shoots. The stage features a fully motorised LED ceiling (including Absen 2.6mm pixel pitch panels) that can tilt to function as a front wall and reconfigure to create a 360-degree volume, alongside an image-based lighting workflow integrated with existing control desks.
Key Takeaways
- New VP stage targets driving-shot work, accommodating everything from motorcycles to buses and stunt vehicles
- Fully motorised LED ceiling with Absen 2.6mm panels tilts up to 90° to become a front wall and enable a 360° volume
- Ceiling travels up to 18m front-to-back for rapid reconfigurations, including “rain-ready” setups; ceiling area is doubled vs prior stage
- Stage layout aims to reduce resets: ~90% of camera angles achievable with a single 180° vehicle rotation
- Bespoke image-based lighting workflow plugs into existing control desks to reproduce complex lighting states (neon night to hard sunlight)
Why It Matters
Virtual production is increasingly judged less by “wow” backgrounds and more by throughput: how fast you can get clean, repeatable shots that don’t blow the day. Driving scenes are a perfect wedge—traditionally expensive, weather-dependent, and continuity-heavy—so a stage that prioritizes reflections, lighting realism, and quick reconfiguration becomes a direct cost and risk reducer for HETV and features. For streamers and studios under margin pressure, this is the next VP meme: LED volumes as industrialized unit-production infrastructure, not experimental tech. Garden’s mention of co-investment also signals studios competing on financing, not just floor space.
Read full article at broadcastnow.co.uk