Sound Design and Virtual Production: Implementing Sound in a Pre-production Workflow

Virtual production workflows, especially those that make use of in-camera effects, require a shift of what was traditionally completed in post-production to occur before principal photography begins. Decisions are made early in development for how a scene will be shot, as well as how its environment looks, feels and responds as part of a ‘pre-vis’ process, which is considered predominantly from a visual perspective. However, how sound might contribute is often absent from discourse. It is broadly accepted that sound plays a significant role in communicating a cinematic world to an audience, in a way that ‘brings it to life’, with benefits to both storytelling and immersing its viewers. These opportunities increase when sound design is considered early in a film’s pre-production, even as far as script writing, facilitating an integrated and holistic approach to production design and narrative development. Despite this, it is still not a widely adopted practice. With the proliferation of virtual production, this chapter investigates what opportunities exist for sound design, how it can be implemented within these formative production processes and the potential benefits it can offer.