Virtual Production and the Transformation of Cameras Mechanical, Virtual, and Actual

This article examines the rising importance of ‘virtual production’ by focusing on one of its core components, the so-called ‘virtual camera’. Using the virtual camera as a focal point, the author highlights how a particular industrial model of film production has changed in response to the transformations brought about by digital technologies. More specifically, this article uses the notion of ‘virtualization’ introduced by Pierre Lévy in Becoming Virtual: Reality in the Digital Age (1998) to offer a unique point of view on films ‘shot’ with cameras that are ultimately all but virtual. Here, The Lion King (2019) serves as a prime example of virtual production, in general, and of the transformation undergone by the camera, in particular.