About
NSI Next Level Production Lab – Manitoba Pilot is an advanced development lab for experienced Manitoba screen industry professionals, delivered in partnership with New Media Manitoba at its StudioLab xR virtual production stage in Winnipeg.
Artificial intelligence (AI) and real-time technologies are beginning to change how film and television are made – from previsualization and environment building to relighting and visual effects support in post-production. The tools are powerful, but still early and inconsistent. They are most valuable in the hands of people who understand both the craft and where the technology breaks.
This lab gives experienced screenwriters, producers, directors, directors of photography, assistant camera professionals and editors a hands-on, critical look at that change. It starts on a professional LED virtual production stage and builds from the craft you already bring.
The lab approaches AI as a tool to support professional practice. Participants will see where these tools succeed, where they fall short and how they can be used responsibly while respecting creative authorship, performers, professional roles and industry best practices.
During two weeks of in-person training, participants will move from traditional virtual production – where the world is captured in camera on the day – through the history of visual effects and into controlled, AI-assisted workflows, where the elements that matter are captured on set and only selected parts of the frame are generated. Along the way, participants will shoot the same scene several ways – from a fully built virtual production set to a near-empty stage – to explore what needs to be captured on camera and what can be created afterwards.
You do not need previous experience with AI, Unreal Engine or virtual production to apply.
Participants apply individually. Eighteen participants will be selected and organized into three multidisciplinary production teams of six – each bringing together a screenwriter, producer, director, director of photography, assistant camera professional and editor.
How the lab works
The technology may be new, but the professional skills participants bring to it are not.
The lab is built around a question every filmmaker already has an opinion on: what belongs in the camera, and what can be created afterwards?
Rather than a software course, the lab is structured as a series of guided, on-set experiments. Instructors demonstrate each step, then teams put it into practice – capturing footage on the stage, bringing it into AI-assisted post-production workflows and comparing the results. Each experiment builds on the last, so participants understand not only what works, but why.
Participants will work in three multidisciplinary production teams assembled by the National Screen Institute and New Media Manitoba. Each team includes one participant from each discipline, so every member’s expertise directly shapes the team’s work – from story and preparation through production and post-production.
This team-based approach reflects the way virtual production and AI bring creative and technical decisions closer together. Participants will see how these technologies affect their own role while gaining a broader understanding of how decisions made across departments shape the entire production.
The lab in three steps
- Capture it on the stage. Virtual production puts the world in front of the camera on the day. Participants learn how an LED volume, real-time environments and camera tracking shape creative and production decisions.
- Understand what came before. A grounding in the history and craft of visual effects – from early in-camera and blue screen techniques to matting, tracking, rotoscoping and compositing – shows what AI is changing in the filmmaking process, and what it isn’t.
- Choose what to generate. Participants learn to direct AI with intention: holding on to the performances and elements that matter and generating only the parts of the frame they choose. Then they test how far it can go – how little do you really need on set?
Why now?
AI is already entering film and television production, from previsualization and environment building to relighting and visual effects support in post-production. Industry observers expect production crews to change as a result: some roles will shrink, others will grow and new ones will emerge.
The question is no longer whether these tools belong in production, but who gets to shape how they are used. This lab gives experienced Manitoba professionals the chance to understand these tools first-hand – clearly enough to use them, question them and help shape their place in the industry.
This training is for you if you:
- Work professionally as a screenwriter, producer, director, director of photography, assistant camera professional or editor
- Want practical, hands-on experience in a professional virtual production environment
- Are curious about how AI is entering film and television – and want to see it for yourself before forming an opinion
- Want to understand what AI-assisted tools can and cannot do, and where your craft fits
- Want to explore responsible uses of AI that respect authorship, performers and professional roles
- Want to collaborate with experienced professionals from other screen industry disciplines
- Are open to experimenting – including with approaches that may not work
You don’t need previous experience with AI, Unreal Engine or virtual production.
Professional readiness
This is an advanced professional development lab. Applicants should have established skills, knowledge and experience in one of the participating disciplines.
We recognize that professional pathways vary. There is no prescribed minimum number of professional credits. Readiness may be demonstrated through professional credits, substantial project experience, a body of work or other evidence appropriate to your discipline.
Selection will consider both the professional experience applicants bring individually and the overall mix of skills and disciplines needed to build three strong multidisciplinary production teams.
To be eligible you must:
- Be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident aged 18 or over
- Live and work in Manitoba
- Have demonstrated professional experience in film, television or screen-based media as a screenwriter, producer, director, director of photography, assistant camera professional or editor
- Be interested in applying your professional skills to virtual production, AI-assisted production and emerging digital workflows
- Be prepared to work collaboratively as part of a multidisciplinary production team
- Be available for all required online sessions
- Be available for the full in-person training periods from February 22–26 and March 1–5, 2027
- Be able to commit the necessary time to preparation, workshops, production exercises and collaborative teamwork
Program phases
Phase 1 – Online: orientation and story development
Mid- to late January 2027 – exact dates TBD
The lab begins online with an introduction to virtual production, AI-assisted production and the collaborative process participants will experience at StudioLab xR.
Dedicated screenwriter sessions will support participating screenwriters as they develop the original scenes the teams will shoot – written to test what works on a virtual production stage and what can be created afterwards.
Areas of exploration may include:
- Story and concept development
- Writing with virtual production in mind
- Creative possibilities and practical limits of virtual and generated environments
- Storyboarding and visualization
- Identifying opportunities for virtual production and AI-assisted workflows during development
- Preparing material for collaborative production
Phase 2 – In person: foundations
February 22–26, 2027
StudioLab xR, Winnipeg
The first in-person week builds a shared foundation – moving from the virtual production stage to the history of visual effects, to a first hands-on look at generative AI and how to direct it.
Training may include:
- Virtual production workflows and LED volume production
- Unreal Engine and real-time environments
- Camera tracking, lens and camera considerations
- Lighting physical subjects within virtual environments
- Blocking, camera movement and working with performers on the stage
- The history and craft of visual effects: in-camera techniques, blue screen, matting, tracking, rotoscoping and compositing
- An introduction to generative AI: how it works, how to direct it and where it falls short
- Hands-on image generation and background replacement
- Separating subjects from their backgrounds and relighting them
Phase 3 – In person: controlled experiments
March 1–5, 2027
StudioLab xR, Winnipeg
The second in-person week is centred on learning by doing.
Working in teams with cast actors, participants will shoot the scenes developed through the lab on the StudioLab xR stage, then carry that footage into AI-assisted post-production.
Teams will capture the same material several ways – on a fully built virtual production set, with only practical foreground elements, and on a near-empty stage – and compare how each approach holds up when environments are extended, replaced or generated. Each team will finish the week with a final piece and a first-hand understanding of the balance between what needs to be captured and what can be created.
Training may include:
- Building controlled 3D environments with AI assistance
- Emerging capture techniques such as Gaussian splatting
- Shooting on the LED volume with practical sets and stand-ins
- Separating foreground performances from backgrounds in post-production
- Replacing and extending environments with generated, moving backgrounds
- Relighting and integrating captured performances
- Testing the limits: how much can be removed before a shot breaks down
- Collaboration between creative, technical and post-production roles
Phase 4 – Online: producing, pitching and financing
Mid-March 2027 – exact date TBD
The lab concludes with an online session on the practical realities of developing and financing projects that combine virtual production and AI. Designed primarily for producers, this session is mandatory for participating producers and optional for all other participants who wish to attend.
Participating producers will complete a pitch and financing exercise drawing on what their team discovered: what did each approach demand in time, crew and resources – and where did it add creative value?
Participants from other disciplines are welcome to join their team’s producer to observe the pitching process, take part in discussions and learn about the production and financing considerations involved.
Topics covered may include:
- Project positioning
- Creative and technical approach
- Production feasibility
- Budget and scheduling implications
- Financing considerations
- Rights, consent and responsible use of AI
- Communicating the creative and production value of virtual production and AI-assisted workflows
- Pitching projects incorporating emerging technologies
