If you have the QuickTime plug-in, you can view a clip from Battlestar Galactica by simply clicking the first image.

Zoic, whose work on Battlestar Galactica as seen above, is one of the leading firms at producing virtual backgrounds for television. The vfx house is busy creating vfx for 12 shows. Courtesy of Zoic.

When discussing the burgeoning use of virtual backgrounds in television, one might think that set building and location shooting are becoming passé. But as Zoic Studio’s creative director and visual effects supervisor, Andrew Orloff, points out, it’s more of integration rather than elimination. “I think virtual backgrounds, (some call them virtual backlots) are a misnomer because it’s all about plates, putting the plates back together and using real footage most of the time.”

Like Zoic, other visual effects houses have produced many types of virtual backgrounds from total photoreal panoramas to simple set extensions and everything in between.

Bruce Woloshyn, visual effects supervisor at Rainmaker, has done it all. “For both Stargate SG-1 and Stargate: Atlantis we have made extensive use of virtual backgrounds for everything from creating otherworldly locations, to expanding on the series standing sets and, in some cases, creating the standing sets for Stargate: Atlantis.”

Kymber Lim, exec producer at Entity FX, which has produced virtual backgrounds for numerous features, TV shows and pilots, says, “Entity FX has created virtual backgrounds that consists of partial background replacements such as matte painting set extensions and sky replacements to completely all CG photo real backgrounds such as cityscapes for film and television, stands with 100,000 fans for Herbie: Fully Loaded and NHL spots, and CG environments with CG people using motion capture for National Geographic’s Fight Science.”

Max Ivins, partner and visual effects supervisor at Look FX, has used total virtual backgrounds as well as virtual set extensions for the series Bones, which is set in Washington, D.C. but filmed in Los Angeles. “We usually take our cue from the set. Whatever they give you on the set to extend from, the most important thing is to match it seamlessly.”

As you can see, it is not only the large visual effects sci-fi shows that are using virtual backgrounds, but dramatic shows as well.