On the 14th, VA Corporation announced the selection of two projects for production support from the "1st VA Corp. X K-Arts Virtual Production Contest," conducted in collaboration with the Art and Technology Lab (AT Lab) at Korea National University of Arts (K-Arts).
Since last November, VA Corporation has been running the "1st Virtual Production Contest" with K-Arts AT Lab to promote the broader use of virtual production and nurture the next generation of talent. The contest called for short and feature-length films using virtual production with open themes. After a second round of judging, two films were finally selected.
The selected works are:
- "Tropic", a thriller by director Park Jung-yoon, and
- "X-Ray", a family-centric film by director Park Do-kyum.
Park Jung-yoon’s "Tropic" is a short horror thriller about the protagonist "Sun" who encounters a terrifying monster, Tropic, in her dreams following her sister's death. Park Do-kyum’s "X-Ray" explores the subtle emotions between parents and children when roles reverse, highlighting the awkward dynamics as the children become the caregivers.
The two winning teams will receive various benefits from VA Corporation, including :
- Support with virtual studio space,
- Unreal Engine-based background assets,
- Virtual production education, and
- Film production funding.
Both films are expected to be completed by the end of this year.
VA Corporation has been actively working to revitalize the virtual production industry. Last year, they hosted the 1st VA Virtual Film Festival and, in August, signed a Memorandum of Understanding with K-Arts AT Lab. They have since developed a curriculum for virtual production education and talent development, striving to train specialists across the entire virtual production process.
A representative from VA Corporation expressed gratitude to all participants of the virtual production contest held with K-Arts and congratulated the directors whose projects were selected for production support. "We hope this contest has provided valuable experience in the field of virtual production," they stated.
Meanwhile, VA Corporation is a "Creative Entertainment Group" composed of top experts in various fields, including virtual production, VFX, virtual humans, planning and production of original film and drama content, artist management, and the metaverse. Recently, they opened a new hybrid virtual production studio in the Bitmaru Broadcasting Support Center in Ilsan, Goyang City, Gyeonggi Province, capable of both XR and ICVFX shooting, and showcased the virtual production-based play "The Old Man and the Sea."