VIDEO: New film taking advantage of Saskatchewan technology

A new film is taking advantage of the LED volume wall at the John Hopkins Regina Soundstage.

The new technology uses a series of linked LED panels surrounding a stage in a 320-degree circular formation to create digital sets for actors. The stage also uses LED panels above the main area, acting as a simulated sky.

Karma Film is currently using the stage in Regina to create its new action comedy ‘Hostile Takeover.’

The film follows Pete, a professional hitman, who faces a group of assassins after the boss of a crime syndicate suspects disloyalty due to his attendance at Workaholics Anonymous meetings.

Watch behind-the-scenes footage of the LED volume wall in action:

The film stars Michael Jai White, known for his roles in ‘The Dark Knight’ and ‘Black Dynamite,’ and Saskatchewan actor Aimee Stolte, who spent a large chunk of her childhood in Saskatoon.

Anand Ramayya, the film’s producer, said that the LED Volume Wall is a game changer for filmmakers in the province.

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“I’ve been producing films for 25 years now, and this is the future of filmmaking. This is the way that all of the bigger projects are going to be made from here on out,” said Ramayya.

“It also gives filmmakers a whole new toolkit to do basically whatever you can imagine. We can shoot any location in your imagination, anywhere in the universe, right here in Regina, and we can shoot all year long.”

The technology is already in use in popular series like ‘The Mandalorian’ and ‘The Book of Boba Fett.’

The LED volume wall in Regina is the largest in Canada and second biggest in North America.

‘Hostile Takeover’ isn’t the only production coming to Regina. Ramayya said they’ve got quite the backlog.

“We’ve got some great projects on our slate. We were doing another movie right after this one in August. We were doing a horror, and then we have an action series after that, and then we have a really big sci-fi series slated for early next year, so hopefully if we can keep everything going it’s going to be an exciting time around here,” said Ramayya.

Michael Jai White stars in ‘Hostile Takeover,’ which is making use of the LED volume wall in Regina. (Roman Hayter/980 CJME)