U.K. Virtual Production Studio Dimension Unveils Set of AI Tools to “Empower Creatives”

Real-time virtual production firm Dimension Studio, known for its work on the likes of Sony Pictures’ Whitney Houston biopic I Wanna Dance With Somebody, Apple TV+ miniseries Masters of the Air, and the Peacock gladiator series Those About to Die (Peacock), has unveiled a “new end-to-end AI
content production pipeline” that it developed to “support filmmakers and content creators in delivering content faster and more efficiently than ever.”

Dimension, which received a major investment from U.S. private equity firm Growth Catalyst Partners (GCP) last year to “fuel Dimension’s international growth, expanding production capabilities in major markets, including the U.K., U.S., and Europe,” said it will make the new AI offering available across its business “to empower its teams in delivering amazing creative results for clients.”

To show what the AI “pipeline” can do, Dimension’s Dimension Futures team has produced an animated kids short, entitled Mara & Milo: Magic & Mayhem. “Everything from initial ideation, storyboarding, character and environment design, to virtual camera control, shot composition and voiceover has been done by a team of two artists whose creative work was supported by the AI pipeline,” the firm said. “The pipeline allowed the artists to accelerate creative and look development and to deliver the finished production in a matter of weeks rather than months. The pipeline meant they could quickly iterate on different ideas across character, costume, environment, lighting, animation, camera moves, and shot creation and selection.”

Dimension said that the Mara & Milo team estimates that the new offering helped to reduce its production time to just one-third of what it would have been using traditional processes.

“The pipeline positions Dimension as an ideal partner for productions that are interested in exploring the creative application of AI and where clients are looking for efficiencies but without compromising on quality, whether that’s for animated series, short-form content, or advertising where producers have fast turnaround deadlines,” the company said.

Dimension co-CEO Simon Windsor touted: “AI is a revolutionary technology that’s transforming filmmaking and storytelling at unprecedented speed and scale. Exciting new production approaches are evolving very quickly with the opportunity to empower creatives and artists like never before.”

Dimension has published its commitments in an “ethical & responsible AI policy.” It also highlighted that “when using any AI workflows, both in pipeline development or in its business operations, Dimension is strongly committed to ensuring creative roles remain the most important aspect of any post-production or animation operation.”

Dimension has studios in the U.K. and U.S. and highlights its “ability to operate globally.”