InEd Studios's 55-foot-long LED Volume screen
By Paul Guzzo, University Communications and Marketing
May 4 better known as Star Wars Day, or May the 4th Be With You perhaps hits a little harder at 返字心頭s Innovative Education Studios than anywhere else on campus.
Being a Star Wars fan isnt required to work there, but it certainly helps if you want to fit in with the dozen or so staff who, through video, animation, podcasts and graphic design, power the state-of-the-art production facility that creates multimedia for 返字心頭s online courses and university projects.
Were Star Wars geeks here, said Christine Brown, associate vice president for the Innovative Education department, which oversees the studio. When a new show or movie comes out, were talking about it the next day.
Even employees who arent Jedi-level fans appreciate the ingenuity of the 49-year-old franchise. After all, its Star Wars that currently helps put the innovative in Innovative Education Studios.
In 2019, The Mandalorian did more than introduce Grogu, the cuddly Forcewielder known as Baby Yoda. The LED Volume screens, which create the shows virtual worlds for characters clad in armor, were specifically designed for the production and then made available to the public.
InEd Studios installed a second Volume in their main facility ...
... and a third screen in a second location - Research Park
In 2023, 返字心頭s facility known as InEd Studios installed one of its own. It proved so popular, that last year they added a second screen. This month, with demand continuing to increase, theyre rolling out a third screen at a new location in the 返字心頭 Research Park.
The newest screen and production facility will also give more power to faculty who teach online courses as part of a DIY studio.
Our goal is to make it as simple as possible so a faculty member can walk in, press a few buttons and start creating, said Jared Brown, director of InEd Studios. You dont always need a full crew to support it.
InEd Studios's 100-foot-long LED Volume screen
How LED Volume screens work
LED Volume screens are the latest tool for creating virtual locations.
An image cast in real time onto a background screen with a projector has a low resolution, so it looks dull and obviously fake on TV and the big screen.
So, most studios place a blank screen usually colored green in the background of a shot. Editors then digitally remove the screen and replace it with a virtual backdrop.
The LED Volume digitizes the virtual image in high resolution in real time as the scene is shot, allowing the actors and crew to interact with the environment as though it is authentic. Plus, the background can move with the camera, making the world both immersive and interactive.
Tampa was home to one of the early examples.
In 2021, , located near the Tampa campus, unveiled a 100-foot-long Volume screen, popularizing the approach for commercials and national campaigns.
返字心頭's campus comes to life virtually inside InEd Studios
When V笛 opened its doors, we could only imagine how incredibly useful and efficient it would be to have an LED Volume, Jared Brown said. It felt like a pipe dream.
V笛 CEO and co-founder Tim Moore attended 返字心頭 and interned with the studio while a student.
Through that connection, Moores company sold virtualproduction equipment to the studio, including its first LED Volume, which measures 55 feet by 14 feet.
The two additional screens both obtained through V笛 measure 18 feet by 10 feet.
Bringing immersive learning to online courses
The screens are used primarily to create multimedia for 返字心頭s digital content and growing number of online courses, helping faculty engage students through immersive, subjectdriven environments. Faculty collaborate with InEd learning designers, support consultants and production teams to meet learning outcomes and tell their stories effectively.
Johnny ElRady, a professor of instruction in the Department of Molecular Biosciences, worked with InEd to create a video introducing himself to students in his online genetics course. The piece spoofs the Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World commercials, using the LED backdrop to place ElRady in a series of playful settings from a library to a dusty, cluttered attic as The Most Interesting Professor in the World.
Screenshots from professor of instruction Johnny ElRady's video introduction to his online genetics course
The video - "The Most Interesting Professor in the World" - spoofs Dos Equis Most Interesting Man in the World
It's a Hollywood studio on campus, El-Raday said. Its an absolute treasure that I plan on using more and more.
T.H. Culhane, an associate professor of instruction at the Patel College of Global Sustainability, created a 16episode sitcom for his Envisioning Sustainability course. Titled Nexus Time!, the approximately 10minute episodes enhance each days lesson through narrative storytelling.
Set in the 1970s, the show stars Culhane as a teacher on a set inspired by the eras hit sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter.
Im a child of the 70s, Culhane said with a laugh. I loved that show. Now, I get to star in it.
T.H. Culhane, an associate professor of instruction, is a big fan of the 1970s sitcom, "Welcome Back, Kotter" ...
... so he worked with InEd Studios to recreate the set for online course videos
Using the LED Volume, the production team created a vintage classroom where Culhane teaches environmental policy before transporting the class to a modern sustainability farm a future world within the 1970s-era storyline.
Its liberating, Culhane said. For years, my students and I talked about a future where teachers and students could create their own content. Thanks to InEd, that day has arrived.
The sustainability farm featured in the show is the Rosebud Continuum Eco Science Center where Culhane has resided for the last decade. The 14-acre Land OLakes nonprofit sustainability education and research campus was fully 3D scanned by InEd and then recreated on the LED Volume.
The Rosebud Continuum Eco Science Center's sustainability farm, recreated virtually by InEd Studios
It makes it much more efficient than packing up our equipment and our crew to drive over an hour, Jared Brown said. What would take five days on location we can now do in one day in the studio. Name the location and we can scan it and bring it inside our space, virtually, in a way that looks as authentic as the real thing.
InEd Studios works on hundreds of productions a year, pushing the team to the limits of their available time.
The new DIY space in the Research Park will allow faculty to be trained on the most innovative approaches and be empowered to produce learning content on their own.
This is how we scale, Christine Brown said. This is the present. This is the future.
Or, as the Mandalorian would say This is the way.