CULVER CITY Ca.—Sony Pictures Entertainment (SPE) has unveiled its first LED virtual production stage located at Sony Innovation Studios (SIS), a division of SPE, on the Sony Pictures Studios lot here. The new stage is the world’s largest using Sony’s high brightness and wide color gamut Crystal LED display panels, which were created in collaboration with top engineers at SPE for use in virtual production.

The establishment of this LED stage allows SIS to expand its virtual production workflow across various entertainment platforms and to seamlessly merge the real and virtual worlds with its award-winning Atom View technology and proprietary stage-integration software.

Masaki Nakayama, Senior Vice President and Head of Sony Innovation Studios commented: “We have been developing our virtual production technology since its inception in 2018. Our new LED stage is a milestone to further enhance our technology. The combination of photo-realistic visuals and intuitive virtual production workflows enables creators to focus on telling impactful stories in radically new ways.”

“Virtual Production is revolutionizing the way we create film and TV. By harnessing virtual production technology within SPE, we are giving content creators essential tools to more fully realize their vision,” says Tony Vinciquerra, Chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

“Sony is a creative entertainment company with a solid foundation of technology. Virtual production is one of the key areas where we can provide new value and support creators to unleash their creativity through the power of technology,” says Kenichiro Yoshida, President and CEO of Sony Group Corp.

Sony Innovation Studios is a state-of-the-art facility launched in June 2018 to empower storytellers around the world to produce content using new technologies, tools and techniques.

CULVER CITY, CA.--Recognizing the U.S. as a key strategic market for its products, Prime Focus Technologies announced this week that Founder and CEO, Ramki Sankaranarayanan will now operate from the company’s U.S. headquarters, in Culver City, Calif. As the technology arm of Prime Focus, PFT markets its flagship Media ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) Software Suite CLEAR, as well as cloud media services.

PFT's focus on the U.S. market began in 2014 when it acquired DAX, a provider of cloud-based production workflow and media asset management applications to the entertainment industry for a base consideration of US$ 9.1 million in a structured performance-linked transaction. The company is actively expanding its local sales and marketing efforts, while expanding its product and services portfolio.

[Read: Prime Focus Technologies To Acquire DAX For $9.1 Million] 

PFT works with major M&E companies, like Disney, Hearst, Warner Bros., CBS Television Studios, 20th Century Fox Television Studios, Lionsgate, Showtime, A+E Networks, HBO, Miramax, Google, YouTube, and Amazon Prime.

“I believe I can best contribute to our continued growth by focusing more of my efforts here in the U.S., where the majority of premium content originates for global consumption,” Sankaranarayanan said. “This decision will help to reinforce our strategic focus on the U.S. market—corporate growth, human capital investment, and market development.”

PFT has offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Johannesburg, Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Sydney that support a global digital media content pipeline for customers worldwide.