Go Behind the Scenes on This Texas A&M Short Film

While the ballerina who appeared on the front cover of this issue of Spirit (above) might look like she’s on a grand stage, she’s actually somewhere even more exciting: a state-of-the-art soundstage (below) at the Virtual Production Institute in Texas A&M’s College of Performance, Visualization and Fine Arts (PVFA). Last fall, dancer Riley Emler ’27 visited the space to star in the college’s short film, “Chase Your Dreams.”
 

The film, which focuses on a girl working to become a professional ballerina, is a prime example of the industry-shaping combination of art and technology at the heart of the college. Directed by a team of Academy Award- and Emmy-winning filmmakers Brandon Oldenburg and Limbert Fabian and involving students and faculty from multiple PVFA disciplines, the work was filmed almost exclusively on the virtual production stage by combining practical set pieces — like the floor and spotlights in the front-cover scene — with digital creations displayed on massive LED screens — like the theater, seats and chandelier.

“The college’s approach fuses the traditional art forms with emerging technology and interdisciplinary action,” said Dean Tim McLaughlin ’90 ’94. “There’s not another institution that has the same collection of engineers, technologists, artists and performers under one roof who can think about emerging technologies and the future of the arts like PVFA can.”