Virtual production for still photos?

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Welcome to VP Land! Door G is taking a practical approach to virtual production - built around brand work, cost savings, and speed. They’re even extending it beyond video into still photography. We sat down with the founders to break down their playbook.

In our last poll, nearly all of you agreed that real-time interactive world models (like Yan or Matrix-Game 2.0) are true game-changers that will shape filmmaking in the coming years. Check out today’s poll below.

In today's edition:

Door G shares brand playbook for VP
MicroCo aims to cut content costs using AI
MRMC launches compact Cinebot Nano motion control robot
McDonald's new ad - practical or AI?

Door G Breaks Down Brand VP Strategy

Door G launched as New England's first dedicated virtual production facility in East Providence, Rhode Island, with a 56-foot LED wall and a pragmatic approach that treats VP as one tool among many. We got a chance to speak with Scott Maiocchi and Joe Kayata to learn about how they've been using virtual production and how they pitch it to their brand clients.

Turning a $450K problem into a reusable asset: CVS used to build a full-scale retail set from scratch—at $250K–$450K per production. Door G recreated an entire CVS in Unreal Engine, giving the brand a permanent, reusable digital store that cut costs, streamlined approvals, and ensured consistency across campaigns.
Plate-first workflows: But most shoots don't need a big 3D VAD build. Door G captures plates and LiDAR scans on nearly every location shoot. These assets can be repurposed later as 2D or 2.5D environments for pick-ups or future spots, giving clients flexible, photoreal backdrops without committing to full 3D builds. It’s a practical way to expand content libraries and extend the value of each production.
Virtual production for stills: It's not just video - Door G found a valuable use in VP for photo campaigns. Brands can shoot consistent lifestyle or product images in multiple “locations” in a single day—without the logistics and cost of travel or custom set builds.

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The Quibi dream lives on...with an AI lift

Lloyd Braun is betting that AI can solve what killed Quibi: runaway production costs. His new venture, MicroCo, aims to capitalize on the microdrama boom using AI tools to slash content creation expenses by up to 90%.

MicroCo is entering the vertical shorts market. The microdrama market is projected to reach $10 billion globally by 2030, with Chinese apps like ReelShort already claiming over $1 billion in annual revenue.
Quibi failed partly because it spent $100,000 to $125,000 per minute on short-form content with episodes up to 10 minutes long.
While this isn't an apples-to-apples comparison, MicroCo plans to use AI-assisted animation for as little as $1,500 per minute, compared to traditional TV animation's $15,000 to $60,000 per minute.
These vertical, mobile-first series typically run 1-3 minutes per episode across 30-150 episode seasons, using freemium models where viewers pay to unlock content.

MRMC's Nano: Travel-Ready Motion Control Under £20k

MRMC launched the Cinebot Nano, a compact motion control robot that packs into three airline-friendly cases and targets solo filmmakers. The nine-axis system starts at £20k and eliminates the size, cost, and complexity barriers that kept robotic camera movement limited to big-budget productions.

The Nano supports camera rigs up to 7kg with a 1-meter reach, making it suitable for mirrorless and smaller cinema cameras that solo creators typically use.
You can mount it on tripods, suction it to vehicles for car shots, or suspend it upside down for creative angles, then move between setups quickly.
The system includes Flair Lite software with no subscription fees, so you own the motion control software for life instead of paying ongoing costs.
It integrates with Tilta's zoom and focus controls, letting you automate lens adjustments along with camera movement for complex shots.
The precision ball-bearing track lets the robot travel at 1 meter per second, enabling smooth tracking shots even in tight spaces.

McDonald's McDonaldland: Handcrafted or AI?

McDonald's brought back McDonaldland after 20+ years with a new commercial that had viewers asking if it was AI-generated. Brand Content Lead Guillaume Huin revealed the answer: It wasn't AI at all, but months of detailed handcrafted work.

McDonaldland is back for the first time in decades with a brand new commercial.
Many asked if it was AI so I am going to share the step by step behind the scenes of how it came to life. 🧵
— #Guillaume Huin (#@HuinGuillaume)
4:14 PM • Aug 12, 2025

How the Commercial Was Made

The team spent 3-4 months building physical sets, sculpting characters, and creating practical effects before shooting for just 3 days.
Every McDonaldland character was recreated as real puppets or costumes that actors wore, including Mayor McCheese and the Fry Friend.
Birdie and Ronald McDonald flew on harnesses over actual sets, while puppeteers ran through desert landscapes with giant fans to simulate wind effects.
The production used traditional storyboarding, frame-by-frame animation, and physical model-making rather than generative AI tools.
CGI was only used for specific needs like creating skies or removing safety harnesses, not for character animation or world-building.

In Depth Cine unpacks the history and impact of Technicolor, the process that brought rich color to cinema and reshaped the industry.

Stories, projects, and links that caught our attention from around the web:

🤖 New VP Land Tutorial: How to install and use Claude Code—even without coding experience.

🚀 Two VP SIGGRAPH reveals: ILM debuted Oscar, a tablet UI for StageCraft, while Sony Imageworks unveiled ML-powered tools to turn HDRIs into 3D light rigs with Spherelight.

📺 YouTube has launched a bid to host the Oscars.

🇮🇳 Hindu god Hanuman becomes the focus of India’s first AI-made motion picture.

🍾 Severance-inspired juices launched at Erewhon through an Apple TV+ collaboration.