■ STEF 2020 Held Remotely

STEF 2020 ONLINE was held remotely for three days from December 9 to 11. The theme of this year's event was "Technology that inspires emotion," and in a memorable opening message that featured a virtual avatar, Katsumoto-san explained that this year's STEF would be centered around "3R" technologies, which include Sony's specialty "Reality" and "Real-time" technologies and the newly added element of "Remote."

Demand for 3R technologies has increased from creators, users and society as a whole especially in the COVID-19 era.

Reality: "Technology to grasp and express space",
Real-time: "Technology to perform instantaneous/high-speed processing and capture moments",
Remote: "Technology to connect time and space"

■ Learning from Epic Games - Presentation by Tim Sweeney

On the 8th, Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games, the studio behind Fortnite which Sony is an investor of, gave a special lecture at STEF attended virtually by over 700 Sony employees around the world. I also listened to his speech with interest and asked Tim a question regarding Virtual Production (VP), which I will discuss later in this blog.

Epic Games is another company that is actively getting closer to its users and creators. The company provides its users with a metaverse^* in the form of its game Fortnite, which was the topic of Tim's speech. Fortnite has expanded its world through cross-platform play between console and mobile, evolving from a place to play into a place to gather, and even offering features for creating UGC (user-generated content) within the game environment.
* A 3D virtual-reality space created on the Internet.

For creators, they are developing the Unreal Engine, which has recently become a key technology for VP in addition to its use in games and CG video production.

■ The Evolution of Virtual Production

The use of VP technology in filming has increased exponentially over the last year. This has come about due to the increased need for such solutions during COVID-19, and due to the advancement in game engines as well as real-time ray tracing^* powered by AI, and the evolution of the technology used to synchronize these elements with various devices such as displays and cameras.
* Technology to generate light reflections and shadows in real-time.

"The Mandalorian," a Star Wars spin-off series available on Disney+, is a prime example of the use of VP technology. More than half of the scenes in the first season were shot in a digital filming studio with a 270 degree, 6-meter-high (20-foot-high) LED wall surrounding a circular space about 23 meters(75-foot) in diameter. In this process, the background image, rendered in real-time with high resolution using Unreal Engine and other technologies, is projected on the LED wall following the movement of the camera.

As I mentioned at the Group Quarterly Meeting in October, within the Sony Group we also have Sony Innovation Studios (SIS) in Culver City. In the case of "The Mandalorian," a virtual world that does not exist in reality is projected onto the background using real-time composition, while the strength of SIS is that it can perform a 3D capture of the real world, such as a studio set, and faithfully reproduce it in real-time as part of a synthetic image.

A demonstration by SIS at CES2020 in January that showcased VP technology by capturing a portion of Sony Pictures' studio lot as photo-realistic volumetric data and showing it on a display as a background image.

As Sony's identity is a "creative entertainment company with a solid foundation of technology," I would like to see us become the front-runner in VP by further extending the use of this technology into the realm of video production. In order to do so, we must consider ways to expand the reach of our technologies, rather than keeping it closed. By cooperating with internal and external partners who are at the top of their respective fields, let's create "the best in the world" across all of our businesses.

Incidentally, VP technology, which enables production to continue even when travel to the shooting location is restricted, can be considered a form of technology that contributes to the sustainability of creativity.

■ Reflecting on 2020

The main theme of this year's STEF was "Technology that inspires emotion," but the sub-theme was "Using technology to solve the challenges of People, Society, and the Planet." Looking back on 2020, in many ways it was a year which greatly challenged the sustainability of People, Society and the Planet. I spoke on this topic at the recent GZERO Summit, and you can see my remarks here.

2020 was also a year in which I truly sensed how much people continue to desire entertainment, even amidst a global pandemic. And on a personal level,it gave me an opportunity to reexamine and reevaluate the significance of Sony's existence. I would like to again express my heartfelt gratitude to each and every one of you across the Sony Group for your efforts to continue delivering emotion to the world, by innovating and implementing new work practices. I look forward to working with you all again in 2021 to realize our Purpose to "fill the world with emotion through the power of creativity and technology," and I hope that you have a healthy, safe and well-earned rest with your families this year-end season.

As always, I look forward to receiving your feedback.