‘Judge Jerry’ is filmed in virtual sets with Blackmagic Design technology

Sneaky Big und NBCUniversal Syndication Studios (NBCU) have tapped Blackmagic Design‘s Ultimatte 12 compositors to create the virtual courtroom for the second season of Judge Jerry.

This new series of episodes, filmed in three different states and remotely during the harshest months of the pandemic, was recorded with a set of conventional cameras. These signals were then transmitted to five Blackmagic Ultimatte 12 compositors located in the studio, which were used to generate the masks.

Similarly, the production used an Ultimatte Smart Remote 4 device and six Teranex 2D processors were used to standardize the image format.

From their homes

To conduct the production virtually, Judge Jerry und Bailiff Najee Hinds were filmed in front of chromas at their respective homes in Florida and New York. In turn, the team used the same technique in other studios around the country to avoid relocating litigants, reduce travel expenses and comply with Covid-19 security measures. Similarly, the virtual verdicts were recorded at NBCU studios in Stamford, Connecticut, placing the judge and bailiff in front of a green background.

Marianne Guenther, CEO of Sneaky Big, remarks on her experience working with virtual scenarios: “For the past several years, the Sneaky Big team has been doing incredible work utilizing interactive, 3D virtual sets. It was an exciting experience to bring these capabilities to NBCU so their productions could continue.”

Likewise, she believes that this solution proved particularly useful for more sustainable productions: “The pandemic made all of us rethink how we do business and really brought virtual production to the forefront. Virtual sets allow for greater flexibility at a lower cost. We think this type of production and technology is here to stay.”

The studio has several commercial projects planned for this year for which it will continue to use virtual solutions such as those from Schwarze Magie Design.