USC is betting big on the future of filmmaking, with planning now underway for a new $25 million virtual production studio.
Funded by a donation from the Blavatnik Family Foundation, the new Blavatnik Center for Virtual Production will use camera tracking and artificial intelligence to generate immersive scenes for filming.
Set to open in Fall 2027, the studio will allow students to film live action scenes in front of two massive LED panel walls, using advanced camera tracking and AI to create a moving immersive background, School of Cinematic Arts (SCA) Dean Elizabeth Daley stated in a press release shared in June announcing the project.
Patrick Harley, facilities coordinator at SCA, said the project is currently in the ideation and planning phases.
“Right now, they’re in the wish list stage, collecting people’s wants and needs, and our team is creating 3-D mock-ups and floor plans,” Harley said.
The center will be built next to the Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts, near campus at 3131 S Figueroa St. However, budget details and final blueprints are still in development, according to an email from SCA Associate Dean Kristin Borella.
In the initial press release, Daley called virtual production the “centerpiece of today’s filmmaking processes,” and stated that as one of the world’s premier film schools, SCA should be a leader in “developing the best models for training the industry’s leading filmmakers.”
Disney, Netflix and many other large studios have built virtual production studios, also referred to as “volumes,” using them to create hit projects like “The Mandalorian” and the “Dune” films.
The technology allows filmmakers to produce scenes that would usually take months and millions of dollars to coordinate due to weather, logistics and regulations within the controlled setting of a studio, said SCA professor and co-head of virtual production Scott Kroopf.
Previously, directors and actors would have to imagine their surroundings on a green screen — with the new studio, they will be able to see their environment around them on a curved semicircle screen, Kroopf said. As the actors and camera move, the background shifts naturally in real time, eliminating the need for physical set design, green screens and heavy lighting equipment.
While many of these new studios exist, the technology is so new that universities are playing a central role in training the rookie class of technicians, giving them an edge in a notoriously fragile job market, Kroopf said.
“Most of the technicians are coming out of schools now because the technology is moving so fast,” he said. “The industry turns and looks back at what we’re doing as educators because they want us to train creators who figure out how to use these tools in the right way.”
Film industry reports placed the virtual production industry market size at about $3 billion in 2024 and projected the market to be about $10 billion by 2032, according to Fortune Business Insights.
“USC’s pioneering approach – building a virtual production studio for the future – makes this the right time and place to invest in our industry,” Len Blavatnik, founder of the Blavatnik Family Foundation, said in a press release from the foundation.
Using an LED wall Sony donated to the Zemeckis Center in 2024, the SCA class “Virtual Production in LED Volumes” already trains students to use Unreal Engine, the primary world-building software, to create five short films each semester. The projects range from dance pieces to experimental films, according to Kroopf, who teaches the course. These classes are currently limited based on studio availability, but with the introduction of the new studio 2027, production capacity is estimated to at least double.
The Blavatnik Center will become the new centerpiece to the existing curriculum and further expand offerings at SCA, Kroopf added. Students will be able to write, shoot, and edit their projects from start to finish at the center.
Opinions of AI video and virtual production vary widely across SCA and the global film industry. Ed Ulbrich, an executive of Moonvalley, an AI video production company, said he felt AI would soon become commonplace in the industry. At the OUT/FORM summit on AI creativity last week at SCA, Ulbrich and others made the case that AI filmmaking is destined to become a part of Hollywood.
SCA students, however, said they remained apprehensive about using or seeing AI in Hollywood.
“It taints the experience,” said Owen McCourt, a freshman majoring in film and TV production. “It doesn’t feel human anymore.”
McCourt also raised concerns about the environmental costs of AI use, an abundance of “AI slop” — or low-quality, low-effort content — and the uncredited use of others’ art.
“AI honestly repulses me,” said Gabe Sakoda, a sophomore majoring in cinema studies. “I really, really hate it. I feel like there’s no curation, there’s no intentionality in it.”
Others were cautiously optimistic. Stanley Turner, a junior majoring in film and TV production, said he does not want virtual production or AI to completely replace filming on location. Still, he was excited about the new studio’s potential, and the opportunities it might offer for students.
“The whole ‘Mandalorian’ volume stage was a huge deal, and I thought that was really, really cool,” Turner said. “I’m really impressed that they have that here. I’d like to use it.”
Kroopf, who has produced or supervised over 70 films, said he is used to adopting cutting-edge technology and is not resistant toward AI itself, though he acknowledges this strong aversion to AI among his students.
“When we went from film to digital, suddenly a whole array of things were possible to do in a more seamless, magical way,” Kroopf said. “Human storytelling, human performance, human collaboration, still powers all of this.”