The Future of Production Amplified: Bringing Digital Humans into the Spotlight

As part of NAB Amplify’s video series, “The Future of Production Amplified,” NAB Amplify content partner Jennifer Wolfe chats with Hanno Basse from Digital Domain about how the use of digital humans is transforming film and television production.

Basse is chief technology officer at Digital Domain, where he oversees the ongoing development of the studio’s digital human and autonomous human technologies, along with its AI-powered tools. With more than 30 years in the industry, serving as CTO at both Microsoft Azure and 20th Century Fox Film, Basse is charged with guiding Digital Domain’s technical infrastructure, including the pipeline and proprietary software development that helps its artists deliver award-quality work for any medium.

Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Digital Domain has been at the forefront of many of the groundbreaking technologies employed to create believable digital characters capable of delivering emotionally nuanced performances. In just the last year, the VFX house has created digital humans for Marvel features Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, as well as Disney+ series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.

The studio’s Digital Human Group has been exploring digital puppetry since its groundbreaking work on 2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. “That’s where the journey for digital humans actually really started at Digital Domain,” Basse recounts, describing the slow, painstaking process for aging Brad Pitt in reverse during post-production. “The technology has developed since then to such a degree that we can actually do this in real time now. And so we created the Digital Human Group.”

Advancements in game engine technology have completely transformed film and TV production, Hanno acknowledges. “What I’m really excited about with real-time technology is that it really allows decision making in the moment,” he says. “It really allows directors and visual effects artists, and actually even actors, to iterate and try different things in real time. And they see the result of that immediately.”

In Part 1 of the conversation, Basse explains how Digital Domain’s Digital Human Group was established, alongside Project Digi Doug, a comprehensive digital database of a real person, DD’s head of software R&D, Doug Roble. Basse also discusses how digital humans can be employed for virtual production, and the level of nuance that can be captured from an actor’s performance and applied to digital characters.

Watch Part 1 below:

In Part 2, Basse talks about Digital Domain’s use of digital humans in Marvel features Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. He also addresses the use of AI and machine learning in the creation of digital humans, and how these tools can automate mundane tasks, freeing artists to unleash their creativity.

Watch Part 2 below:

In Part 3, Basse identifies the biggest changes he foresees for the visual effects industry and how studios can to adapt to them, including the impact of major advancements in real-time rendering software and hardware, and the ability to capture final imagery with in-camera VFX. He also discusses the use of digital humans for visualization, clothing simulation, and the studio’s creation of a digital Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for the cover of Time magazine.

Watch Part 3 below:

Connect with Hanno Basse on LinkedIn, or learn more about Digital Domain’s Digital Human Group and Project Digi Doug.