WWE 30,000 Sq. Ft. Studio complex opened; Sony Verona LED wall installed for virtual production

The Studios at WWE, a new 30,040 square foot state-of-the-art production facility, aims to provide both WWE and external customers with new production opportunities in the New York Tri-State area. Equipped with five studios, highlighted by a state-of-the-art virtual production stage built in collaboration with AbelCine and Meptik and equipped with the latest generation of technology from Sony Electronics and Disguise. Joe Solari, WWE, Vice President, Studio Operationssays the new studio opportunities have excited everyone at WWE.

“We've been bringing people in over the last few days to look at the space we've created and I think everyone is very excited to get in there and create something on the stages,” he says. “It gives us new tools and a new canvas to push the boundaries of what we do here at WWE. We can take our productions to the next level and really increase our fan engagement.”

The five studios include a 5,000-square-foot main studio, a 1,500-square-foot Cyclorama studio, a 1,500-square-foot LED volumetric studio (opening later this spring), and two smaller intermediate stages of approximately 600 square feet each (There is also a Photo studio, which is about 1,000 square meters.)

Production technologies will enable WWE to tell more dynamic stories, improve its production quality, versatility and efficiency, and serve a broad range of broadcast, film and production customers. The full-service production facility features extensive amenities including a cyclorama, two production control rooms, two live audio rooms, robotic camera control, two playback rooms, editing rooms, seven post audio rooms, two green rooms, locker rooms and office space.

The new WWE facility features a green screen studio as well as a virtual LED production studio.

In addition to world-class production offerings, WWE's studios are equipped with a purpose-built virtual production stage housed in Studio 3. And while most people associate volumetric LED shots with shows like “The Mandalorian,” the WWE studio is proof that you don't need a huge studio with huge LED walls to deliver a huge look.

“Our wall is about 14 feet tall and 32 feet wide, but with the virtual enhancements it can appear larger on camera than it does in person,” Solari says. “If you look through the lens, the wall will be as big as we need it to be.”

Equipment and service provider AbelCine provided the design and installation of camera and lighting for the studios and brought in virtual production specialists from Meptik to lead the design, installation and integration of the virtual production phase. Meptik's team of creative and technical experts have extensive experience in virtual production and have successfully integrated virtual production workflows for clients ranging from major broadcasters to educational institutions.

“[Meptik co-founder] “Nick Rivero and his team were wonderful and really helped us make decisions about designing the space to make it flexible for the variety of shoots we wanted to do,” says Solari. “There are no limits with volume walls like this, and if you can think of something, you can do it.”

The LED stage uses the latest generation of Sony's Crystal LED Verona modular display technology and Solari says it is an amazing product that turns all preconceived notions of LED on its head.

“When I first saw it, I couldn't process what I was seeing because it was so different from any tile I'd seen before,” he says. “The clarity and color gamut that we can balance with the blacks and anti-reflective properties is something I have never seen before.”

According to Solari, Verona is also long-lasting because the LED diodes are encapsulated.

“You won’t see a lot of the problems that other walls have,” he says. “Plus, altitude performance is almost non-existent, which is a testament to Sony’s research and development.”

WWE is the first U.S. facility to install Crystal LED Verona, installing a total of 158 cabinets on the main wall and auxiliary cars.

Additionally, Studio 3 will feature Sony's Virtual Production Tool Set, designed to solve common virtual production issues and support high-quality in-camera VFX, as well as Sony's flagship full-frame digital cinema camera, VENICE 2. The Combining these products will allow WWE to leverage a color-accurate ecosystem to bring quality and efficiency to their productions.

The next-generation production stage is powered by the Emmy award-winning visual experience platform Disguise, the industry's most advanced and integrated virtual production workflow. Three Disguise VX 4+ media servers were selected for their unmatched playback performance and flexibility to play content of any size, format and complexity, providing WWE the creative freedom to deliver next-generation sports and media entertainment.

“I don’t think there’s anything in Connecticut right now that even comes close to what we’ve built here,” Solari says. “Not just in terms of studio space, but also in terms of the level of production support we have.”