The Greenest Mile is the One Not Traveled
Air travel for cast and crew is consistently one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions for any major film production. A virtual travel offset, also known as ‘avoided emissions,’ is an emerging sustainability metric that quantifies the environmental benefit of not traveling. It’s a proactive approach that shifts the focus from simply offsetting the impact of a flight to eliminating the need for the flight in the first place through the use of technology.
How It’s Calculated and Applied
The process involves comparing the carbon footprint of a traditional workflow with a virtual one. For example:
- Traditional Workflow: A director, cinematographer, and production designer in Los Angeles fly to a location in New Zealand for a week of scouting. The total carbon emissions for their flights and accommodations are calculated.
- Virtual Workflow: The New Zealand-based crew uses drones, 3D laser scanners (LiDAR), and 360-degree cameras to capture the location. This data is used to build a photorealistic 3D model of the location, which the creative team in Los Angeles can then scout and explore using VR headsets.
The production can then report the calculated emissions from the avoided flights as a ‘virtual travel offset’ in their sustainability report, demonstrating a tangible reduction in their potential carbon footprint.
Technologies Enabling the Offset
This new approach to sustainable filmmaking is made possible by a suite of remote collaboration tools:
- Virtual Location Scouting: Using digital twins, VR, and high-resolution remote video feeds.
- Remote Collaboration Platforms: Services like Evercast, Sohonet ClearView, and Frame.io allow key creatives to review footage, approve shots, and participate in color grading sessions in real-time from anywhere in the world.
- Virtual Production: Using an LED volume to recreate a distant location in a studio, eliminating the need to transport the entire production to that location.