Innovative Dreams
Innovative Dreams Discusses Real-Time Hybrid Pipelines at IBC
IBC 2026 · Technical Presentation
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What happened
IBC scheduled a conference session featuring Adam Jones, Director of Production Technology and Innovation at Innovative Dreams, in conversation with Sean Wallitsch from Amazon Web Services. The discussion focuses on real-time hybrid filmmaking, which merges performance capture, LED virtual production, and generative AI into a single unified pipeline. Drawing on workflows used on productions including the series House of David and the feature Young Washington, Jones outlines how integrating live performance with virtual environments and AI tools alters on-set operations. The session explores how this unified approach collapses conventional production timelines, removes traditional handoffs between pre-production, production, and post-production, and enables creative teams to iterate on assets live on stage rather than months later in post.
Why it matters
For film and television production, connecting generative AI directly to LED virtual production and performance capture targets a core industry bottleneck: the long lag between on-set capture and final VFX finishing. In traditional pipelines, virtual environments and performance assets often require extensive post-production handoffs and rebuilds before achieving final pixel quality. Unifying these technologies into a real-time workflow allows directors and cinematographers to evaluate framing, lighting, and environmental interaction concurrently during shooting. This shift changes production economics and scheduling, transferring iterative adjustments into principal photography and shortening the runway needed for visual effects turnaround without sacrificing creative control over complex sequences.
Antique Robots take
We appreciate discussions that focus on practical on-set integration rather than abstract AI hype. What stands out in Innovative Dreams' model is using generative AI as an assistive layer alongside LED volumes and performance capture, rather than treating it as an isolated novelty. When virtual environments and real-time tools give heads of department immediate visual feedback, creative decisions stay in the hands of the filmmakers on stage. However, hybrid pipelines only deliver real value if they simplify the shoot day. The moment real-time processing slows down camera setups or pulls focus away from performance, the advantage disappears. The goal remains choosing the right method for the shot.